METHOD FOR ASSISTING AN AIRCRAFT TO REJOIN A FLIGHT PLAN BY INTERCEPTION OF A FLIGHT SEGMENT CLOSE TO THE AIRCRAFT

A method for assisting an aircraft to rejoin a flight plan is disclosed. The flight plan is composed of a number N of flight segments (LEGi, i⊂[1, N]) with a flight segment LEGi being defined by a departure end (WPTi−1) and by an arrival end (WPTi). A navigation mode is termed “managed mode” wherein, the aircraft has momentarily left the managed mode and has deviated from the flight plan after passing through a waypoint (WPTp, p⊂[1, N]), the aircraft occupying a position (PPOS) and seeking to rejoin the flight plan so as to follow it in managed mode. The method comprises a step of evaluating the separation distance (Dj, i⊂[p+1, N]) between the position (PPOS) of the aircraft and each of the waypoints (WPTj, i⊂[p+1, N]). The local minima of the distance between the position (PPOS) of the aircraft and the waypoints (WPTj, i⊂[p+1, N]) of the flight plan is determined.