Patent ID: 7797102

Claim:
A flight management system (FMS), comprising: a computer electrically connected to a Multipurpose Control and Display Unit (MCDU) that includes a display screen and an input keyboard; wherein the computer includes a memory device that includes a stored flight plan having referenced waypoints, including a start point, an end point and intermediate waypoints, each waypoint having a display marker; wherein the stored flight plan further comprises a predetermined threshold fuel quantity, and a pseudo-waypoint, corresponding to a point where the predetermined threshold is passed; wherein the computer is configured to execute a fuel consumption monitoring function stored in the memory, the monitory function based upon said referenced waypoints, said pseudo-waypoint, and a specified fuel quantity at the start of the flight plan, the monitoring function comprising: a threshold-passing estimation function for estimating if a quantity of fuel remaining on board drops below the predetermined threshold value at any point in the flight plan between the start point and the end point, and an inserting unit function for inserting the pseudo-waypoint in the flight plan, corresponding to the point where the threshold is passed.