Method for monitoring the braking of the wheels of an aircraft in which the braking of the wheels of the aircraft is controlled by a wheel braking controller actuating the wheel brakes of the aircraft based on both a deceleration regulation request and a thrust reverser deployment request.

A brake system includes a brake stack having a stack closure pressure, a force member positioned within a cylinder, a valve configured to control fluid pressure of the brake system, and one or more pressure transducers that generate a proportional electrical signal representative of the fluid pressure within the cylinder. The brake system also includes one or more processors in electronic communication with the valve, the one or more pressure transducers, and a memory coupled to the one or more processors. The memory stores data comprising a database and program code that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the brake system to determine the stack closure pressure of the brake stack.

A method of parking an aircraft is disclosed including flight crew pedal braking to cause a brake force to be applied to the aircraft wheel brakes to slow the aircraft to a stationary state in which it is ready to be parked. Flight crew then activate a parking brake device and then release the pedal braking. An electronic control device, forming part of the aircraft’s braking system for example, automatically intervenes, following the manual release of the pedal braking, to cause a brake force to continue to be applied to the wheels. This may be until sufficient brake force is applied, as a result of the activation of the parking brake device, to hold the aircraft in its parked state or may be for a predetermined period of time, say, ten seconds.

The present invention is a system and method for evaluating runway conditions that combines known brake control systems with a new runway condition monitoring unit working in conjunction with an anti-skid/brake control unit to improve runway condition evaluation. The runway condition monitoring unit is installed on an airplane and receives data from the brake control unit, and processes that data through hardware and software to formulate a runway condition report of the airplane while landing on a runway. The invention may include additional sensors or interfaces that supplement the data received from the BCU. The runway condition monitoring unit contains a processor and interfaces that calculates and creates a runway condition report. The runway condition monitoring unit communicates the report by way of the avionics communication network on the airplane to devices that then send the runway condition report to consumers of the data, such as the flight deck, air traffic controllers, airport operators and airline operations.

The present invention combines known brake control systems with a new runway condition monitoring unit that works in conjunction with an anti-skid/brake control unit to improve runway condition evaluation. The runway condition monitoring unit is installed on an airplane and receives data from the brake control unit, and processes that data through hardware and software to formulate a runway condition report of the airplane while landing on a runway. The invention may include additional sensors or interfaces that supplement the data received from the BCU. The runway condition monitoring unit contains a processor and interfaces that calculates and creates a runway condition report. The runway condition monitoring unit communicates the report by way of the avionics communication network on the airplane to devices that then send the runway condition report to consumers of the data; such as the flight deck, air traffic controllers, airport operators and airline operations.

A system and method of displaying an Engine Failure Awareness Chart (EFAC) for aircraft with at least one engine out is shown and described herein. The EFAC may display lines and zones indicative of levels of risk of obstacles on the ground. The obstacles may be either man-made or natural structures. The EFAC may update continuously providing the pilot with a real-time awareness of the risks around the aircraft during an engine failure. Using the EFAC the pilot may navigate the aircraft to a landing area or back to the airport for landing.

A method of controlling cooling of a brake system, includes determining a brake temperature, obtaining a wear rate profile for the brake system indicative of wear rate in dependence on temperature, and controlling activation of cooling of the brake system according to the wear rate profile.

Disclosed is a ground movement system for a helicopter having a fuselage and rotor blades fixed to the top of the fuselage, the ground movement system comprising at least three wheels secured below the fuselage of the helicopter, the wheels being retractable during flight; a motor positioned in the hub or on the undercarriage leg of each of at least two of the wheels, wherein each motor is operable to rotate the wheel in forward and backward directions; wherein each motor allows the wheel to rotate freely when unpowered; at least one user interface operable to receive user input commands to control the speed and direction of travel of the helicopter using the ground movement system; and a control arrangement to provide control signals to each of the motors based on the user input commands.

The invention relates to a method for controlling an aircraft taxi system, comprising the steps of: generating a traction command (Com) to control an electric motor of a wheel drive actuator; detecting whether or not an external brake command, intended to control braking of the wheel via the brake, is generated; if an external braking command is generated, producing a predetermined minimum command (Cmp) to control the electric motor so that the drive actuator applies a strictly positive predetermined minimum motor torque to the wheel during braking; detecting whether a speed of the aircraft becomes zero and, if so, inhibiting the predetermined minimum command (Cmp) so that the drive actuator applies zero torque to the wheel.

A braking system and a method for applying one or more aircraft wheel brakes according to at least one of a plurality of wheel brake control functions are disclosed. The method includes receiving an indication of an aircraft speed from an aircraft speed indicator, controlling a wheel braking operation of the aircraft according to at least a first wheel brake control function if the aircraft speed indicated by the aircraft speed indicator exceeds a speed threshold, and controlling the wheel braking operation of the aircraft according to at least a second wheel brake control function if the aircraft speed does not exceed the speed threshold. Also disclosed is an aircraft including one or more aircraft wheel brakes and the disclosed braking system.