Lufthansa Systems and GE Aviation team up on inflight synchronisation of FMS and lido pilot solutions

Lufthansa Systems and GE Aviation have teamed up in a bid to provide a solution that allows for the inflight synchronisation of the flight plan between the GE Aviation flight management system (FMS) and Lufthansa Systemsʼ lido pilot applications directly on-aircraft.

Bernd Jurisch, head of flight & navigation products & solutions at Lufthansa Systems, said: “Integrating solutions and taking advantage of the opportunities provided by digitalisation and connectivity to help airlines achieve total mission optimisation (TMO) is at the core of the Lido vision.

"Utilising the capabilities of a connected FMS is one of the first major building blocks in achieving this vision."

Flight crews rely on flight-operational information available in their EFB devices in various applications, which today is typically entered manually into the FMS. Inflight, the FMS manages the flight plan by computing an optimal trajectory and provides pilots with guidance along the computed trajectory. The manual entering of data into the FMS during pre-flight preparations or inflight can lead to partially hazardous consequences if entered incorrectly.

The new solution has an interface that enables the lido pilot solutions to read flight-plan data processed by the FMS and send flight-plan information from the EFB to the FMS.

The first demo of the connected FMS focuses on the bi-directional data integration. First, before takeoff, flight plans can be sent from the lido pilot Solutions to the FMS where they are automatically loaded.

Second, manual changes during a flight, for example due to air-traffic control instructions or to circumnavigate bad weather, are automatically transferred to the mapping applications where the route is graphically displayed in real time. The use cases from this demo are just the start; there are many other potential applications that will significantly reduce the pilots’ workload.

“GE Aviation and Lufthansa Systems collaboration creates innovative capabilities and value for our joint airline customers, while positioning our products to support future reduced crew operations and SESAR/NexGEN initiatives,” said Gary Thelen, director, FMS product management at GE Aviation. “With this joint development, we are opening up entirely new possibilities on the flight deck.”