EMBEDDED TERRAIN AWARENESS WARNING SYSTEM FOR AIRCRAFT

An embedded terrain awareness warning system for aircraft being flown by a pilot includes a signal processing component, a protection component and a pilot vehicle interface. A method for providing an embedded terrain awareness warning system for aircraft being flown by a pilot includes providing a signal processing component, a protection component and a pilot vehicle interface. The signal processing component communicates with three-dimensional digital terrain elevation data and is able to take input data from aircraft sensors, aircraft computers or navigation systems and determine aircraft position and velocity. The protection component is in communication with the signal processing unit such that the protection component is able to determine if a potential controlled flight into terrain exists and is able to predict a recovery flight path to avoid terrain. The pilot vehicle interface communicates with the protection component such that the pilot vehicle interface can issue a warning to the pilot of the aircraft of impending flight into terrain, and issue a directive solution to prevent the impending flight into terrain.