system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Wars] Why do the rebels fly towards the AT-AT's in the Battle of Hoth?

Why not flank them? Most of them were shot down by flying right towards the barrage of laser fire in the assault.
gpt
AT-ATs are almost in range when they start their fighters. If they try to "flank" they lose precious minutes. im which they could fight the AT-ATs. In these minutes, the walkers just advance unhindered - and then, when the fighters "flank", the AT-ATs just make a 90-120 degree turn, and start firing on the fighters, from the same distance as before. They have sensors to "see" how the fighters try to flank.

Also flanking is not really effective due to the heavy armor of the AT-ATs. And the cable technique is vulnerable to fire from other AT-ATs, which are further behind.

If you stop the last AT-ATs first, the first arrive without resistance. If you stop the first AT-ATs, the last can fire upon the fighters, which is seen in the movie.

tl;dr: They have no time to flank the AT-ATs, they have to fight them asap. Also the pros are not worth the lost time.