Can I do coupled 2 AP (Autoland) ILS approach in every airport equipped with ILS?Does it have to do with the Weather, visibility winds etc...Does it have to do with some designations found in the charts?I was looking at some and I found some CAT II or III, but I have not found clear definitions on that... Please help

I'm not a real pilot so anyone can correct me since I'm sure I'm wrong.My understanding is that you 'can' do coupled autolands on anywhere with a strong enough ILS signal and nothing is wrong with either autopilot to prevent them from functioning. However, I believe FAA rules are to hand fly from DH/A when conditions permit (not 100% sure on this one though). I also believe there has to be a published catII or catIII chart (not 100% sure on this either). The purpose of catII and catIII landings is to allow pilots that are qualified to make landings that have visibility conditions so low that visual and non-precision landings are impossible. Normal catII dh is 1/2 normal ILS, and catIII is 1/4 normal ILS if I remember correctly. EDIT: I found the following information on my favorite flight navigation website (http://www.navfltsm.addr.com/):"The autopilot is in full control of the aircraft for any approach below Cat. I. And you can't initiate a Cat. II or Cat. III approach at just any airport simply because the weather minimums require it. Those approaches, like all the others, must be approved and published."So, it looks like, technically in FS you can do an autoland anywhere, but in real life only permitted where charts are published for the approach.

Hi !First of all, let's make a difference between a coupled (or autocoupled) approach and a full autoland. The former is a way to fly an ILS procedure with the autopilot (and eventually the AT) down to (and not below) the DH. Landing or go-around must be flown manually.It can be performed on almost all of the ILS installations worldwide, except where the "autocoupled approach NA" or similar caption exist on the relevant approach chart or a NOTAM is preventing it or the ATC is telling you that's not possibile to do it, or your airline/operation department says that you're not aouthorized to do it under certain wx conditions. The coupled approach can be done on cat I, cat II and cat III ILS.The autoland can be done only at specified locations, where the ground segment (localizer, glideslope and monitoring aids) and airborne segment (autopilot, airplane and crew) are working properly.Cat II e III (A,B or C) availability is clearly stated on the approach charts.The ILS signal must be certificated for autoland, but it is not compulsory to be a cat II or III ILS. If the ILS signal is strong enough you can do your autoland on a cat I ILS (obviously not in cat II/III weather).Remember that cat II has normally a 350 or 300m minimum RVR and a DH not below 100 ft RA; cat IIIa has a 200 m RVR minimum and either a 50 ft DH or no DH; cat IIIb has a 75m RVR minimum and no DH (some airline put an "alert height" at 20 ft RA) and cat IIIc as 00m RVR minimum and no DH.In cat II a manual landing is possible after an autocoupled approach, in cat III normally only autoland are possibile (but with an HUD it is demonstrated and certified that a cat IIIa manual landing is possibile). An autoland can be performed with an AT inoperative if the pilot closely mimics the AT behaviour.Most probably, you'll have to autoland in cat II or III conditions and in this case all relevant certification/authorization must be operative. It could be that the ILS is "downgraded" due technical or operational reasons, so check this with the NOTAMs.Hope this helped clarify your question.

Yes, well... almost clear,Now that I have the big picture clear, I'll go ahead and read... I'll report back my findings..Thanks

I would add that you can download any up-to-date US chart you wish in .pdf format at http://204.108.4.16/index.asp?xml=naco/online/d_tppYou'll find also the cat II/III procedures where approved.Happy landings.