Autoland question

[airplane wizard]

Can you do an autoland on any ILS or does it have to be a CAT III ILS?

 

[Stby One]

You can autoland from any ILS. You're just not protected in the same way as on a CAT III. If for example the glideslope signal becomes faulty the system won't shut down as quickly as it would on a CAT III. And obviously the minima wouldn't change even if you autoland.

 

[TWA Dude]

OPS SPECs address this. For instance, at AWA it must be a CATII or III ILS with two exceptions, one runway in PHX and one in LAS so we can keep the airplanes current. It really boils down to the demonstrated stability of the individual glideslope for a specific runway. A CAT I ILS GS isn't certified to be usable below like 100' or DH, I forget which, which means an attempted autoland could be in for a wild ride. I've seen captains take us down way too low before bailing and disconnecting the AP. My experience is that it is NOT safe to autoland using a CAT I ILS. It might work some of the time but usually it's just too scary.

 

[Mookie]

Just tell approach what you want to do, and they'll protect the critical area. ain't no big thang

 

[Vanguard]

Can you do an autoland on any ILS or does it have to be a CAT III ILS?

You can try. CAT I, II, III all use the same ILS equipment. A CAT II, III ILS was certified by the FAA Flight Check aircraft to go down to that minimum. They do a performance analysis inside the runway threshold and along the runway rollout to meet signal strenght, sensitivity, etc...for a CAT II or III.

Just be ready to click the autopilot off!

Good Luck.

 

[Ty Webb]

Agreed- any CAT 2. CAT 3 or CAT 1, as long as there is nothing in the Notes section of the plate restricting it, and as someone else mentioned, ask the tower to protect the signal.

 

[mdanno808]

Just tell approach what you want to do, and they'll protect the critical area. ain't no big thang

There are lot's of times where they will not protect the critical area due to congestion, etc.

 

[Mookie]

that's why ya gotta ask nicely...imp:

mookie

 

[Stby One]

Recently had a pilot from Boeing on jumpseat and he was surprised that we didn't autoland more on CAT I approaches. Don't know how common it is in other companies but we do it mostly only during training flights.

 

[B-atch]

At PO, we have to auto land every 30 days in order to maintain equipment recency requirements, and yes we do occasionally use cat I runways. I should also note that there is a min. and max glide slope angle for auto land. Check your' particular Ac's AOM. On the whale, its max 3.25 and min 2.5.

 

[AKAAB]

In our operation, CATI Autolands are allowed on runways with an ILS with a decision height of no more than 200 feet.

I just hate wasting a chance to practice landing in case my First Officer keels over and I have to do it with a 200 hour private pilot asking how to tell if the gear is down. [/crossthread]

;-)

AKAAB

 

[GuppyWN]

I did an autoland the other day.... man it SUCKED! Roughest landing I've ever had.

Gup

 

[flatspin7]

How do you auto land a 737... when you dont use autotrottles?

 

[johnnyb]

Recently had a pilot from Boeing on jumpseat and he was surprised that we didn't autoland more on CAT I approaches.

Boeing has no experience in day to day airline ops - they just build the things.

 

[fartknocker]

How do you auto land a 737... when you dont use autotrottles?

Probably the same way we autoland the 727 with no autothrottles.

 

[Ty Webb]

I did an autoland the other day.... man it SUCKED! Roughest landing I've ever had.

Gup

Uh . . . .that's because Autoland is not installed on your airplanes. . . .

 

[Tejas-Jet]

How do you auto land a 737... when you dont use autotrottles?

Actually, the auto throttles can be MEL'd out of service and you can still do an auto land. I had that very scenario during a LOFT at my former legacy carrier.

Personally, I really like the HGS.

Tejas

 

[GuppyWN]

Uh . . . .that's because Autoland is not installed on your airplanes. . . .

My bad.

Gup

 

[Benhuntn]

One big difference in ILS's is the number of transmitters. The CAT ll/CAT lll has at least one redundant transmitter for both the glide slope and course. Some have two.