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The flight display includes a vertical terrain profile display having a format that includes a side-on vertical terrain profile comprising a plurality of color filled vertical alerting bands representing areas of terrain that are within defined limits above and below the airplane altitude. A symbol

The flight display includes a vertical terrain profile display having a format that includes a side-on vertical terrain profile comprising a plurality of color filled vertical alerting bands representing areas of terrain that are within defined limits above and below the airplane altitude. A symbol is positioned relative to the side-on vertical terrain profile for representing an altitude and position of the aircraft. Displays of range and altitude are positioned relative to the symbol and side-on vertical terrain profile in predetermined increments. In another broad aspect the side-on vertical terrain profile includes a plurality of color filled horizontal absolute altitude bands representing the absolute altitude of the terrain. These displays may be accompanied by nested color filled blocks representing weather hazards and/or terrain alerting prediction icons.

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The invention claimed is: 1. A flight display for an avionics system of an aircraft for showing an enhanced vertical situation of an aircraft, said flight display comprising a vertical terrain profile display having a format comprising: a side-on vertical terrain profile comprising a plurality of c

The invention claimed is: 1. A flight display for an avionics system of an aircraft for showing an enhanced vertical situation of an aircraft, said flight display comprising a vertical terrain profile display having a format comprising: a side-on vertical terrain profile comprising a plurality of color filled vertical alerting bands representing areas of terrain that are within defined alerting limits above and below the airplane altitude, said vertical alerting bands being overlaid on plain terrain, each vertical alerting band being visible only when a portion of the terrain profile exceeds a defined alerting limit, each vertical alerting band extending vertically from an x-axis to that portion of the terrain profile above said defined alerting limit, said x-axis representing the lowest displayed altitude on the vertical terrain profile; a symbol being positioned relative to said side-on vertical terrain profile for representing an altitude and position of the aircraft; and, displays of range and altitude positioned relative to said symbol and side-on vertical terrain profile in predetermined increments. 2. The flight display of claim 1 wherein said filled vertical alerting bands are overlaid on color filled horizontal bands representing the absolute altitude of said terrain. 3. The flight display of claim 1 wherein said color filled vertical alerting bands have colors utilized by Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System/Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems (EGPWS/TAWS). 4. The flight display of claim 1 wherein said color filled vertical alerting bands are utilized in combination with color filled blocks, said filled blocks representing weather hazards. 5. The flight display of claim 1 wherein said color filled vertical alerting bands are utilized in combination with nested color filled blocks, said nested color filled blocks representing weather hazards. 6. The flight display of claim 1 wherein said filled vertical alerting bands are utilized in combination with nested color filled blocks, said nested color filled blocks representing weather hazards, said vertical alerting bands and said nested color filled blocks being separated by a boundary line. 7. The flight display of claim 1 wherein said color filled vertical alerting bands are calculated based on the highest terrain within a horizontal swath, along the airplane track or flight plan. 8. The flight display of claim 1 wherein said color filled vertical alerting bands are calculated based on the highest terrain within a horizontal swath, along the airplane track or flight plan, said swath being nominally set to the Required Navigation Performance (RNP). 9. The flight display of claim 1 wherein said airplane altitude is the actual altitude. 10. The flight display of claim 1 wherein said airplane altitude is the predicted altitude. 11. The flight display of claim 1, further comprising a plan view display of the aircraft position. 12. The flight display of claim 1, wherein said color filled vertical alerting bands comprise varying shades of green, yellow and red. 13. The flight display of claim 1, further including a terrain alerting prediction icon for providing strategic terrain alerting. 14. The flight display of claim 1, wherein said symbol comprises a line indicating the airplane's predicted vertical flight path, said vertical terrain profile display further including a display of waypoints. 15. A flight display for an avionics system of an aircraft for showing an enhanced vertical situation of an aircraft, said flight display comprising a vertical terrain profile display having a format comprising: a side-on vertical terrain profile comprising a plurality of color filled horizontal absolute altitude bands representing the absolute altitude of said terrain; a symbol being positioned relative to said side-on vertical terrain profile for representing an altitude and position of the aircraft; and, displays of range and altitude positioned relative to said symbol and side-on vertical terrain profile in predetermined increments, said side-on vertical terrain profile further comprising color filled horizontal alerting bands representing areas of terrain that are within defined alerting limits above and below the airplane altitude, said horizontal alerting bands being overlaid on said absolute altitude bands, each horizontal alerting band being visible only when a portion of the terrain profile exceeds a defined alerting limit, each horizontal alerting band extending vertically between said defined alerting limits above and below the airplane altitude, each horizontal alerting band extending horizontally to the contour of the terrain profile. 16. An avionics system, comprising a flight display for showing an enhanced vertical situation of an aircraft, said flight display comprising a vertical terrain profile display having a format comprising: a side-on vertical terrain profile comprising a plurality of color filled vertical alerting bands representing areas of terrain that are within defined alerting limits above and below the airplane altitude, said vertical alerting bands being overlaid on plain terrain, each vertical alerting band being visible only when a portion of the terrain profile exceeds a defined alerting limit, each vertical alerting band extending vertically from an x-axis to that portion of the terrain profile above said defined alerting limit, said x-axis representing the lowest displayed altitude on the vertical terrain profile; a symbol being positioned relative to said side-on vertical terrain profile for representing an altitude and position of the aircraft; and, displays of range and altitude positioned relative to said symbol and side-on vertical terrain profile in predetermined increments. 17. An avionics system, comprising a flight display for showing an enhanced vertical situation of an aircraft, said flight display comprising a vertical terrain profile display having a format comprising: a side-on vertical terrain profile comprising a plurality of color filled horizontal absolute altitude bands representing the absolute altitude of said terrain; a symbol being positioned relative to said side-on vertical terrain profile for representing an altitude and position of the aircraft; and, displays of range and altitude positioned relative to said symbol and side-on vertical terrain profile in predetermined increments, said side-on vertical terrain profile further comprising color filled horizontal alerting bands representing areas of terrain that are within defined alerting limits above and below the airplane altitude, said horizontal alerting bands being overlaid on said absolute altitude bands, each horizontal alerting band being visible only when a portion of the terrain profile exceeds a defined alerting limit, each horizontal alerting band extending vertically between said defined alerting limits above and below the airplane altitude, each horizontal alerting band extending horizontally to the contour of the terrain profile. 18. A method of displaying enhanced vertical situation information of an aircraft on a flight display, comprising the steps of: displaying a side-on vertical terrain profile comprising a plurality of color filled vertical alerting bands representing areas of terrain that are within defined alerting limits above and below the airplane altitude, said vertical alerting bands being overlaid on plain terrain, each vertical alerting band being visible only when a portion of the terrain profile exceeds a defined alerting limit, each vertical alerting band extending vertically from an x-axis to that portion of the terrain profile above said defined alerting limit, said x-axis representing the lowest displayed altitude on the vertical terrain profile; displaying a symbol being positioned relative to said side-on vertical terrain profile for representing an altitude and position of the aircraft; and, showing displays of range and altitude positioned relative to said symbol and side-on vertical terrain profile in predetermined increments.