AFK Aircraft Circling

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#1

Hello everyone,

Since playing global (for years now) I have noticed how aircraft (whose pilots have gone ‘away from phone’ - which I’m going to call AFK) will circle their last waypoint/destination in their flightplan.

I am bringing this up as in a flight that I just completed (planned MURV - EPWA), I accidentally overslept and my aircraft flew past the destination of EPWA. Now so I was expecting the aircraft to have just circled around the top of the airport at 37000ft, but no, it flew south-ish for over an hour, leaving me with only enough fuel to divert to the closest Class B airport.

So now I am asking, is there any way to make your aircraft circle when you fly past the destination, or is it simply a bug?

Thanks,

-Alpha

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#2

Not a bug. Just gotta add large circles if u think there’s a chance u might not be around the time of decent or landing. If u don’t add circles, the aircraft will keep going the same direction after hitting all wpts and the destination

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#3

Correct me if I am wrong
No it’s mainly because you miss a way point most likely and your aircraft keeps trying to turn and get it

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#4

This is usually not planned. What happens is when you get near the destination the waypoints are usually close together, at cruise alt you will be at high speeds, not what would usually be 240 knots or whatever so what happens is the AP can’t fly to the waypoint so it keeps circling to try to reach it. The speed is what causes it along with close waypoints.

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#5

Just don’t fall asleep and if you have to leave get infinite flight tracker on your phone and track your flight

#6

If you want to circle, just edit your flight plan so that somewhere near your destination, you have a small leg that’s at a angle of 90+ degrees to the previous leg. The aircraft’s autopilot will then start circling in order to try to capture that leg.

Be sure to make the leg as small as possible; if the leg is long, the aircraft will most likely have enough time to intercept it, and then it won’t work.

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#7

@alphabravo6 missing the decent and passing the airport happens to the best of us even. It’s definitely happened to me before. Mainly when i set my alarm for 630, I wake up and see that I was slow and still have 1.5 hours left, go back to bed then wake up at 845😂 and even if I am circling the airport I still hate myself for it

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#8

If your flight plan involves a sharp turn with between two close waypoints, then it will circle around until it reaches its proper point.

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#9

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