This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Robertbowerman (talk | contribs) at 14:37, 26 August 2005 (a bit more detail.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 14:37, 26 August 2005 by Robertbowerman (talk | contribs) (a bit more detail.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) This Aviation-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.A Flight Managment System is a computer onboard almost every aircraft that will guide the aircraft to it designated destination. An aircraft cannot fly directly towards it's destination and has to follow a so-called "air corridor" which is what the FMS takes care off.
The main concept of using an FMS is to give it a series of way points to get from the origin (where you are) to the destination (where you are going). Each way point has a latitude, longitude and often an altitude. Air Traffic Control will give you a specific altitude to fly at.
The FMS gives instructions, also known as steering vectors, to the autopilot. The job of the autopilot in turn is to keep the plane flying