Autoland and CAT 3 landing
#11
Line Holder
Joined APC: Nov 2011
Position: 767 Line Check Airman
Posts: 61
BEA Presents: Clear to Land- 1968 Trident Promo Film (Part 2 of 3) - YouTube
Check out the pilot narrating the autoland, great timing!
Check out the pilot narrating the autoland, great timing!
#13
EA had B727s with autoland built in the late '70s, I think. Was pretty basic, no autothrottles on most of them, fail passive. It worked good IF the captain retarded the throttles at the correct rate. Slow if was a long landing; too fast and it was the worst 727 landing you ever ride thru.
GF
GF
#14
J.K.
What TW said ...
The 74 is easy enough to land most of the time and makes pilots look good if they simply land "by the numbers". With the autoland, it's all done exactly by the numbers and, in my experience, lands more consistently and smoother than pilots can.
#16
Line Holder
Joined APC: Feb 2013
Position: A320 Left
Posts: 97
Interesting enough i found the 737NG fail operational system better than the A320 one, bit that may be personal preference. But in my experience the A320 can sometimes end the landing a bit high.
#17
I believe the L-1011 was the first US manufactured aircraft to have auto land built in from the start and certified to use. If memory servers me correctly, the first US CAT 3 auto lands in the US occurred in ATL sometime shortly after the FAA give its blessing (to operators, aircraft and airports). Both Delta and Eastern air lines operated the L-1011 and on the some day in the late 70's or early 80's the weather was below CAT 2 in ATL. These were the first air carrier (CAT 3 and auto land) landings while in revenue service.
#19
I just did my first autoland in the actual aircraft. It was rough. About on par with my first landing during IOE. The sim did a great job on the other hand, so I would bet the quality of the ILS signal plays a major factor in the quality of the landing.