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Originally Posted by BF-109-Flier
The AI planes do not seem to care about being attacked much, but continue circling their home airfield and perform landings. They eventualy get slaughtered on the runways and in the air one by one.
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This is an old AI problem. Perhaps it will be fixed in the 4.11 patch.
If not, while it's fun to have a "turkey shoot" against AI planes circling to land, it's not realistic. Bombers should scatter or try to get back into formation, call for fighter support and/or move so they are protected by flak.
Fighters should go back into fighting formations and try to fight back. If that's not possible, they should behave as bombers do.
Planes damaged on landing approach shouldn't circle endlessly, but should be cleared for an emergency landing and go straight in to land, ahead of their undamaged peers. If necessary, due to fuel leaks, fires, etc. they should not bother with the usual "upwind" and "downwind" legs of the landing pattern.
Finally, it appears that planes circling to land go in a descending circular spiral. And they always land one by one. In some cases, it would be more realistic for planes to orbit at a distance from the airbase, maintaining speed and altitude, and peel off singly or in pairs for landing.
Landing pattern could be changed slightly to have planes flying a more typical "race track" pattern on final approach under visual flight conditions. That is, orbit in a circular holding pattern at altitude until given landing clearance, then do "race track" like upwind and downwind legs to check that the runway is clear, then go in for final approach.
If there were historical variations in landing behavior, it would be cool if they could be modeled in the AI, or at least at an option in the FMB.