Granted Patent B2

US 12,505,750 · App. 18/428,815 · Granted Dec 23, 2025

Inventors: Martin Lee (Bristol, GB); Anthony Denniss (Bristol, GB); Matthew Stuttard (Bristol, GB); Martin Agnew (Bristol, GB)

Assignees: AIRBUS OPERATIONS LIMITED; AIRBUS DEFENCE AND SPACE LIMITED

G08G5/50G08G5/55

Abstract

Claims (18)

1 . A method of fueling a second aircraft, the method comprising:

receiving data from a first aircraft during a flight of the first aircraft, wherein the data comprises atmospheric information indicative of an atmospheric condition and/or contrail information indicative of a presence or absence of contrails generated by the first aircraft;

calculating a flight route for the second aircraft using the data;

calculating a risk of contrail generation by the second aircraft for the calculated flight route;

calculating a fuel load on a basis of the risk of contrail generation;

loading the second aircraft with a first fuel; and

loading the second aircraft with an amount of a second fuel which is less prone to causing contrails than the first fuel, wherein the amount of the second fuel is determined on a basis of the calculated fuel load.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data is associated with an air space occupied by the first aircraft during the flight of the first aircraft; and the flight route includes an air space occupied by the first aircraft during the flight of the first aircraft.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising transmitting the data from the first aircraft during the flight of the first aircraft.

4 . A method of loading a second aircraft with a contrail suppression fuel-additive, the method comprising:

receiving data from a first aircraft during a flight of the first aircraft, wherein the data comprises atmospheric information indicative of an atmospheric condition and/or contrail information indicative of a presence or absence of contrails generated by the first aircraft;

calculating a flight route for the second aircraft on a basis of the data;

calculating a risk of contrail generation by the second aircraft for the flight route;

calculating an additive load on a basis of the risk of contrail generation; and

loading the second aircraft an amount of a contrail suppression fuel-additive, wherein the amount of the contrail suppression fuel-additive is determined based on the additive load.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the data is associated with an air space occupied by the first aircraft during the flight of the first aircraft; and the flight route of the second aircraft includes the air space occupied by the first aircraft.

6 . The method according to claim 4 , further comprising transmitting the data from the first aircraft during the flight of the first aircraft.

7 . The method according to claim 4 , further comprising receiving the data at the second aircraft during the flight of the second aircraft.

Assignments (2)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (16)