Patent ID: 7024287

Claim:
In an aircraft flight management system having a flight management computer that stores a pre-planned lateral route of flight of the aircraft comprising a plurality of successive waypoints to be overflown, a method providing a return-to-path maneuver in the event that the aircraft deviates from the pre-planned route, comprising: if the aircraft is inside a preset boundary of the pre-planned lateral route: choosing either (i) a first waypoint from the waypoints of the pre-planned lateral route as a new candidate active waypoint if the aircraft is on the TO side of the wayline of the first waypoint or (ii) a second waypoint from the waypoints of the pre-planned lateral route as a new candidate active waypoint, the second waypoint following after the first waypoint, if the aircraft is between the wayline of the first waypoint and the wayline of the second waypoint, and calculating a return-to-path route to overfly the new candidate active waypoint if the aircraft is in a capture zone.