Flight management

system

Example of a FMS Control Display Unit used on a

Boeing 737-300
A flight management system (FMS) is a
fundamental component of a modern
airliner's avionics. An FMS is a
specialized computer system that
automates a wide variety of in-flight
tasks, reducing the workload on the flight
crew to the point that modern civilian
aircraft no longer carry flight engineers
or navigators. A primary function is in-
flight management of the flight plan.
Using various sensors (such as GPS and
INS often backed up by radio navigation)
to determine the aircraft's position, the
FMS can guide the aircraft along the
flight plan. From the cockpit, the FMS is
normally controlled through a Control
Display Unit (CDU) which incorporates a
small screen and keyboard or
touchscreen. The FMS sends the flight
plan for display to the Electronic Flight
Instrument System (EFIS), Navigation
Display (ND), or Multifunction Display
(MFD). The FMS can be summarised as
being a dual system consisting of the
Flight Management Computer (FMC),
CDU and a cross talk bus.

The modern FMS was introduced on the

Boeing 767, though earlier navigation
computers did exist.[1] Now, systems
similar to FMS exist on aircraft as small
as the Cessna 182. In its evolution an
FMS has had many different sizes,
capabilities and controls. However
certain characteristics are common to all
FMS.

Navigation database
All FMSs contain a navigation database.
The navigation database contains the
elements from which the flight plan is
constructed. These are defined via the
ARINC 424 standard. The navigation
database (NDB) is normally updated
every 28 days, in order to ensure that its
contents are current. Each FMS contains
only a subset of the ARINC / AIRAC data,
relevant to the capabilities of the FMS.

The NDB contains all of the information

required for building a flight plan,
consisting of:

Waypoints/Intersection
Airways
Radio navigation aids including
distance measuring equipment (DME),
VHF omnidirectional range (VOR),
non-directional beacons (NDBs) and
instrument landing systems (ILSs).
Airports
Runways
 Standard instrument departure (SID)
Standard terminal arrival (STAR)
Holding patterns (only as part of IAPs-
although can be entered by command
of ATC or at pilot's discretion)
Instrument approach procedure (IAP)

Waypoints can also be defined by the

pilot(s) along the route or by reference to
other waypoints with entry of a place in
the form of a waypoint (e.g. a VOR, NDB,
ILS, airport or waypoint/intersection)

Flight plan
The flight plan is generally determined on
the ground, before departure either by
the pilot for smaller aircraft or a
professional dispatcher for airliners. It is
entered into the FMS either by typing it
in, selecting it from a saved library of
common routes (Company Routes) or
via an ACARS datalink with the airline
dispatch center.

During preflight, other information

relevant to managing the flight plan is
entered. This can include performance
information such as gross weight, fuel
weight and center of gravity. It will
include altitudes including the initial
cruise altitude. For aircraft that do not
have a GPS, the initial position is also
required.

The pilot uses the FMS to modify the

flight plan in flight for a variety of
reasons. Significant engineering design
minimizes the keystrokes in order to
minimize pilot workload in flight and
eliminate any confusing information
(Hazardously Misleading Information).
The FMS also sends the flight plan
information for display on the Navigation
Display (ND) of the flight deck
instruments Electronic Flight Instrument
System (EFIS). The flight plan generally
appears as a magenta line, with other
airports, radio aids and waypoints
displayed.

Special flight plans, often for tactical

requirements including search patterns,
rendezvous, in-flight refueling tanker
orbits, calculated air release points
(CARP) for accurate parachute jumps
are just a few of the special flight plans
some FMS can calculate.

Position determination
Once in flight, a principal task of the FMS
is to determine the aircraft's position and
the accuracy of that position. Simple
FMS use a single sensor, generally GPS
in order to determine position. But
modern FMS use as many sensors as
they can, such as VORs, in order to
determine and validate their exact
position. Some FMS use a Kalman filter
to integrate the positions from the
various sensors into a single position.
Common sensors include:

Airline-quality GPS receivers act as the

primary sensor as they have the
highest accuracy and integrity.
Radio aids designed for aircraft
navigation act as the second highest
quality sensors. These include;
 Scanning DME (distance
measuring equipment) that check
the distances from five different
DME stations simultaneously in
order to determine one position
every 10 seconds.[2]
VORs (VHF omnidirectional radio
range) that supply a bearing. With
two VOR stations the aircraft
position can be determined, but
the accuracy is limited.
Inertial reference systems (IRS) use
ring laser gyros and accelerometers in
order to calculate the aircraft position.
They are highly accurate and
 independent of outside sources.
Airliners use the weighted average of
three independent IRS to determine
the “triple mixed IRS” position.

The FMS constantly crosschecks the

various sensors and determines a single
aircraft position and accuracy. The
accuracy is described as the Actual
Navigation Performance (ANP) a circle
that the aircraft can be anywhere within
measured as the diameter in nautical
miles. Modern airspace has a set
required navigation performance (RNP).
The aircraft must have its ANP less than
its RNP in order to operate in certain
high-level airspace.

Guidance
Given the flight plan and the aircraft's
position, the FMS calculates the course
to follow. The pilot can follow this course
manually (much like following a VOR
radial), or the autopilot can be set to
follow the course.

The FMS mode is normally called LNAV

or Lateral Navigation for the lateral flight
plan and VNAV or vertical navigation for
the vertical flight plan. VNAV provides
speed and pitch or altitude targets and
LNAV provides roll steering command to
the autopilot.

VNAV
Sophisticated aircraft, generally airliners
such as the Airbus A320 or Boeing 737
and other turbofan powered aircraft,
have full performance Vertical
Navigation (VNAV). The purpose of
VNAV is to predict and optimize the
vertical path. Guidance includes control
of the pitch axis and control of the
throttle.

In order to have the information

necessary to accomplish this, the FMS
must have a detailed flight and engine
model. With this information, the function
can build a predicted vertical path along
the lateral flight plan. This detailed flight
model is generally only available from
the aircraft manufacturer.

During pre-flight, the FMS builds the

vertical profile. It uses the initial aircraft
empty weight, fuel weight, centre of
gravity and initial cruise altitude, plus the
lateral flight plan. A vertical path starts
with a climb to cruise altitude. Some SID
waypoints have vertical constraints such
as "At or ABOVE 8,000". The climb may
use a reduced thrust or "FLEX" climb to
save stress on the engines. Each must
be considered in the predictions of the
vertical profile.

Implementation of an accurate VNAV is

difficult and expensive, but it pays off in
fuel savings primarily in cruise and
descent. In cruise, where most of the
fuel is burned, there are multiple
methods for fuel savings.

As an aircraft burns fuel it gets lighter

and can cruise higher where there is less
drag. Step climbs or cruise climbs
facilitate this. VNAV can determine
where the step or cruise climbs (in which
the aircraft climbs continuously) should
occur to minimize fuel consumption.

Performance optimization allows the

FMS to determine the best or most
economical speed to fly in level flight.
This is often called the ECON speed. This
is based on the cost index, which is
entered to give a weighting between
speed and fuel efficiency. The cost index
is calculated by dividing the per-hour
cost of operating the plane by the cost of
fuel.[3][4] Generally a cost index of 999
gives ECON speeds as fast as possible
without consideration of fuel and a cost
index of zero gives maximum efficiency.
ECON mode is the VNAV speed used by
most airliners in cruise.

RTA or required time of arrival allows the

VNAV system to target arrival at a
particular waypoint at a defined time.
This is often useful for airport arrival slot
scheduling. In this case, VNAV regulates
the cruise speed or cost index to ensure
the RTA is met.

The first thing the VNAV calculates for

the descent is the top of descent point
(TOD). This is the point where an efficient
and comfortable descent begins.
Normally this will involve an idle descent,
but for some aircraft an idle descent is
too steep and uncomfortable. The FMS
calculates the TOD by “flying” the
descent backwards from touchdown
through the approach and up to cruise. It
does this using the flight plan, the aircraft
flight model and descent winds. For
airline FMS, this is a very sophisticated
and accurate prediction, for simple FMS
(on smaller aircraft) it can be determined
by a “rule of thumb” such as a 3 degree
descent path.

From the TOD, the VNAV determines a

four-dimensional predicted path. As the
VNAV commands the throttles to idle, the
aircraft begins its descent along the
VNAV path. If either the predicted path is
incorrect or the downpath winds
different from the predictions, then the
aircraft will not perfectly follow the path.
The aircraft varies the pitch in order to
maintain the path. Since the throttles are
at idle this will modulate the speed.
Normally the FMS allows the speed to
vary within a small band. After this, either
the throttles advance (if the aircraft is
below path) or the FMS requests speed
brakes with a message such as “ADD
DRAG” (if the aircraft is above path).
An ideal idle descent, also known as a
“green descent” uses the minimum fuel,
minimizes pollution (both at high altitude
and local to the airport) and minimizes
local noise. While most modern FMS of
large airliners are capable of idle
descents, most air traffic control systems
cannot handle multiple aircraft each
using its own optimum descent path to
the airport, at this time. Thus the use of
idle descents is minimized by Air Traffic
Control.

See also
 Acronyms and abbreviations in
avionics
Strategic Lateral Offset Procedure

References
This article includes a list of references, but its
sources remain unclear because it has
Learn more

1. Sam Miller, et als (2009).

"Contribution of Flight Systems to
Performance-Based Navigation" .
AERO Magazine (34, Qtr. 2).
Retrieved 31 December 2012.
2. Spitzer, Carl (2007). "20.2.1".
Avionics, Element, Software and
Functions. Boca Raton, FL: CRC
 Press. pp. 20–6. ISBN 978-0-
8493-8438-7.
3. "AERO - Fuel Conservation
Strategies: Cost Index Explained" .
www.boeing.com. Retrieved
2018-12-08.
4. Airbus Industrie SE (May 1998).
"Getting to Grips with the Cost
Index" (PDF). Cockpitseeker.com.
Retrieved 8 September 2018.

Further reading
ARINC 702A, Advanced Flight
Management Computer System
Avionics, Element, Software and
Functions Ch 20, Cary R. Spitzer,
ISBN 0-8493-8438-9
FMC User's Guide B737, Ch 1, Bill
Bulfer, Leading Edge Libraries
Casner, S.M. The Pilot's Guide to the
Modern Airline Cockpit. Newcastle
WA, Aviation Supplies and Academics,
2007. ISBN 1-56027-683-5.
Chappell, A.R. et al. "The VNAV Tutor:
Addressing a Mode Awareness
Difficulty for Pilots of Glass Cockpit
Aircraft." IEEE Transactions on
Systems, Man and Cybernetics Part A,
 Systems and Humans, vol. 27, no.3,
May 1997, pp. 372–385.

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