Patent ID: 8311687

Claim:
A control system for controlling a flight path of a vehicle, said system comprising: an input device configured to receive a speed margin value for the vehicle; a processor communicatively coupled to said input device, said processor programmed to: receive a speed target value, the speed target value representing a desired vehicle speed along the fight path; generate a thrust control signal using the speed target value; automatically determine a flight path of the vehicle that is shallower than an idle flight path for the vehicle using the thrust control signal, during a descent path an amount of thrust is determined using: T = D + V T - Δ ⁢ ⁢ V V T · [ T - Δ ⁢ ⁢ V - D - Δ ⁢ ⁢ V ] , where T is the idle+Δ thrust solution, D is the drag at your desired speed, V T is the true airspeed (TAS) equivalent of the desired speed, V T−ΔV is the TAS equivalent of the desired speed less ΔV, T −ΔV is idle thrust at the desired speed less ΔV, and D −ΔV is drag at the desired speed less ΔV; and generate a flight control surface control signal configured to maintain the determined flight path using the received speed margin; and an output device communicatively coupled to said processor, said output device is configured to transmit the flight control surface control signal to a flight control system of the vehicle.