Patent ID: 7330781

Claim:
A method of determining, and guiding an aircraft over, an intermediate trajectory between a first flight trajectory, for low-altitude flight, and a second flight trajectory, which starts at an initial point and from which a tactical landing is carried out, the method comprising: receiving, by a processor, information of the aircraft's first flight trajectory and the initial point of the second flight trajectory; determining, with the processor, a point of transition from the first flight trajectory to the intermediate trajectory where the aircraft must depart from the first flight trajectory so as to reach the initial point of the second flight trajectory under predetermined flight conditions; and automatically guiding, with an automatic guidance system, the aircraft along the intermediate trajectory defined by the endpoints of the point of transition and the initial point of the second flight trajectory, wherein: to determine the point of transition, the processor: computationally idealizes a first straight line having a positive slope and a second straight line having a negative slope that are projected into an upstream vertical plane of the aircraft's flight from the initial point of the second flight trajectory; identifies all points at which either the first straight line or the second straight line intersect the first flight trajectory in the upstream vertical plane; and selects the point of intersection closest to the initial point of the second flight trajectory as the point of transition, the slopes of the first and second straight lines are determined in accordance with the predetermined flight conditions, and the intermediate trajectory corresponds to a straight line segment connecting the point of transition and the initial point of the second flight trajectory.