Patent ID: 7925393

Claim:
A ground-based method for generating a four-dimensional (4D) flight plan that takes in account weather, metrological data, and safety of flight information for 360 degree horizontal layer at all relevant altitudes and times, comprising: receiving a flight plan request from a user, the flight plan including user preferences; receiving meteorological information and safety-of-flight information based on the user's origin, destination and preferences; generating a 4D flight plan based on the meteorological information, safety-of-flight information, and user preferences; outputting the 4D flight plan for the user; receiving updated metrological and safety-of-flight information; determining the user's aircraft position while in-flight; updating the user's 4D flight plan while the user's aircraft is in-flight based on the updated metrological and safety-of-flight information, and the user's aircraft position; and outputting the updated 4D flight plan to the user's aircraft in-flight.