Patent ID: 8478458

Claim:
A method for automatically engaging, upon a landing, an automatic pilot mode of an aircraft (AC) comprising an automatic pilot, able to control the trajectory (T) of said aircraft (AC), and at least an altimeter ( 1 ), able to determine the current height (H c ) of said aircraft (AC), said method comprising: A/ estimating the current distance (d) separating said aircraft (AC) from a reference position on the ground (O); B/ determining from a reference height (H réf ) associated to said automatic pilot mode and the current slope (γ) of said trajectory (T), a range of distances (I) with respect to said reference position (O), for automatically engaging said mode; C/ checking whether said current distance (d) belongs to said determined engagement range (I); D/ checking whether said current height (H c ) is at the most equal to said reference height (H réf ); and E/ when said current distance (d) belongs to said determined engagement range (I) and said current height (H c ) is at the most equal to said reference height (H réf ), automatically engaging said automatic pilot mode, wherein a minimum slope (γ min ) and a maximum slope (γ max ) are defined, surrounding said current slope (γ); and a minimum border (d min ) and a maximum border (d max ) of said engagement range (I) are determined respectively from formulae H réf tan ⁢ ⁢ γ max ⁢ ⁢ and ⁢ ⁢ H réf tan ⁢ ⁢ γ min , wherein: H réf represents said reference height; and γ min and γ max respectively correspond to said minimum slope and to said maximum slope.