Patent ID: 8086362

Claim:
Method for assisting the piloting of an aircraft, the method comprising: a) generating a roll instruction for the aircraft; b) measuring current values of flight characteristics of the aircraft and current values of wind characteristics existing outside of the aircraft; c) calculating a predicted path according to the generated roll instruction and the measured current values of wind characteristics by: c1) calculating a first path which exhibits a constant roll angle corresponding to the generated roll instruction but which does not take account of the current values of the wind characteristics; and c2) integrating the current values of the wind characteristics into the first path to obtain a predicted path which is at a constant roll angle; and d) following calculating the predicted path, carrying out the following operations α and β repetitively: α) determining a new roll instruction based on the predicted path to obtain a new predicted path which approaches a particular point (P 0 ): and β) repeating calculation of the new predicted path based on a new roll instruction until the new predicted path joins the particular point.