ILS/Autoland

I got just lucky about a week ago and got a cockpit seat from md80. The captain decided to "try" (in his own words) autolanding, as the RVR (=runway visual range) was only about 350 meters (=1100ft). What i know, pilots in real life use it every now and then, especially in poor/minimum weather conditions. It's quite amazing system, as the plane actually even brakes on the runway....

Which country can you still gain access to the flight deck in?
Autolands are used as required due to weather, the aircraft and the airport need cat3 equipment in order to do it. They need to be practised every so many hours both for the aircraft and the crew. Aircraft must have all autopilots serviceable in order to make an approach as the system needs to be fail safe meaning if one channel goes tech then there is another to take it's place.
Really strange feeling sat monitoring the instruments watching the alt/rad alt wind down! You need about 50m vis even with autoland in order to taxi from the runway!

I have quite a few DVDs on Airline Operations and I actually thought the pilots in heavy planes like the 747 and A340 would use it procedurally more often but they don't.... The DVDs I have feature about 30 landings in total, and all but 2 are performed manually.

Sometimes the Pilots disengage Autopilot at 1500 AGL, sometimes as late as 100 AGL but they always land manually.... the 2 cases where they use the Autoland in my DVDs are (as PH has said), where the weather and visibility were really poor.

I have a number of FS2004 add-ons with Cat 3 Autoland (737NG, A340 / A330, and 747-200 RFP) and it's great fun to set the Autoland up from time to time, so you can come out of the cockpit at the moment of touchdown and watch it from outside (ok, that's not so realistic I know!)... However, nothing beats the feeling of having flown for 4 hours from Gatwick to Tenerife, and the point when you you disengage the A/P and take her down to the Runway.

I fly Airliners so much in FS that I have pretty much mastered the Flare and landing in the big planes - and I actually struggle more with the Flare when landing my Cessna 152 manually (I tend to retard the throttle too early and descend the last 10 feet too heavily, I think because I'm used to being 20 feet higher in an Airliner!).

Same in the military. At El Toro MCAS in El Toro, California we watched a US Marine Corps FA-18 fighter bomber make an approach from over the Pacific that was really cool. A/C came in on a very clear and sunny afternoon on this super long and regular curve decending incrementally all the while. Then straightend wings on final and feathered so perfectly over the runway that the SSgt that was driving with us said that "it is the computer" landing. A/C disappeared behing the buildings, hangers and trees in the final seconds to obscure our view from where we were on the freeway. -Maybe he was not giving the PIC enough credit as we will never know if it was the CPU or not. I like to perfer to think it was just good piloting! -Can't say with any certainty at any rate. Just a little anecdote from the past for what it's worth.

Even within the Sim, the Autolands are not always perfect - I landed a A340 at Hurghada, Egypt recently using AutoLand and the plane flared for too long over the Runway, by the time it retarded and touched the ground it took another 4 seconds or so for the nose to come down... by the time the nose was down, I had very little runway left in front of me and had to switch the Airbus's Autobrakes to "HIGH" which I've never had to do before.

I checked the Runway length and it was within the capabilities for the A340 (it's a scenery add-on not the default).

I noticed at the time (as happens on a lot of Autolands), the PAPI lights were showing THREE WHITE / ONE RED for the last half of the descent, hence the late touchdown !

Yes sir,

A week or so ago w/the autoland my A/C approached-caught the glideslope and started to flair very early and maintained about 80 ft. of altitude and flew all the way down the runway at that attitude!!! What the hades was up with that one? I froze and figured the flt. time was wasted but then took back the A/C and brought the flaps and gear up and horsed the throttle and went around pretty frustrated and to add to that ATC didn't respond to anything that happened. Like it was in tune with the ILS permission to land and never figured any trouble or anything. No pick up / go around or anything.

ATC just forgot about my aircraft assignment as I was flying through some of the most crowded and congested airspace. KLAX. -A bit like flying over and around Heathrow or Gatwick at night with approaching and landing A/C everywhere and nothing but eyeballs to guide!

Went ahead and climbed to 3500 and wheeled back around as I figured would be a standard and 'safe' go around and then joined up with the patten filing a new IFR plan (same plan again.) -ATC picked it up ok and I landed but it was real different. I am sure all here have had some similar experiences?

BTW, one other time, auto land did NOT flair at all and the aircraft went in hard nose first but the plane did not hop one bit. --Anyway, enough from me and the autoland drama. Anybody has any tips post when you feel like or have the spare time?

Believe or not, if you let the autopilot fly the approach, it will land, and deploy the thrust reversers for you down to about 40 knots or so I,ve done it a couple of times. I prefer to hand fly the ILS myself.

Some air liners will even taxi to the gate them selves ( I think the A320 is capable of this). This is not approved for use in the US but is used in other countries.