English to French Law/Patents Aerospace / Aviation / Space aéronautique

According to a twenty-fourth aspect, there is provided a method of operating an
aircraft comprising a gas turbine engine and a plurality of fuel tanks arranged to provide fuel to the gas turbine engine, wherein at least two of the fuel tanks contain fuels with different fuel characteristics, the method being performed by processing circuitry and comprising:
obtaining a flight profile for a flight of the aircraft; and
determining a fuelling schedule for the flight based on the flight profile and the fuel
characteristics, the fuelling schedule governing/dictating the variation with time of how much fuel is drawn from each tank.
The fuelling schedule lists an intended variation with time of how much fuel is
drawn from each tank and is intended to be used to instruct a fuelling manager to supply fuel to the gas turbine engine accordingly. The fuelling schedule can therefore be described as governing, dictating or directing fuel use for the flight (optionally for the aircraft in flight only, or also for ground-based operations).
The method may be performed on-wing, e.g. by a fuelling schedule determination
module of the aircraft, which may form a part of an electronic engine controller (EEC) of the aircraft. Alternatively, the method may be performed off-wing, and the fuelling schedule provided to the aircraft for implementation.