first, I wanna ay how wonderful your 737 and 744 are :D Just about the only airliners I fly in FS now. But in search for more realism, does the ILS have to be CAT III to do an autoland? Or does it HAVE to be CAT III rated for better accuracy or something. It seams to work just as well in FS useing the autoland on a normal ILS (with 1/2 vis and 200' for minimums) and just wondering what the deal is :)Thanks!

Hi Trace,Within FS they behave the same.The real world difference in a CAT 3 ILS comes down to the precision of the approach aids, the level of maintenenace standards, and the enforcement of ILS protection areas (where areas around the signal emitting point are kept free of aircraft or other objects that would distort the signal).There are other factors I'm sure and those with more detailed knowledge of the equipment will step in to tell you more.For the purposes of FS all ILS approaches are useable for a CAT3, if only it were this way in RL!

Here's some gouge on R.W. 747-400 ILS procedures taken from the "The Unofficial 747-400 Simulator and Checkride Manual" by Mike Ray:-All ILS approaches with visibilty LESS and CAT I are "autoland". (This is mostly due to the height of the cockpit when crossing the threshold in low visibility. Not ALL aircraft require autoland in CAT II conditions. I only know of the B767-300 and B747 requirement.)-All Autolands are multiple autopilot procedures. (This means at least two autopilots are functioning for CAT II, three for CAT III. This allows for the "Fail-Operational" and "Fail-Monitor" concept.)-On a CAT III approach, reported RVR must be no less than CAT III minimums in order to land, even if you can see the runway. (If ATIS is reported less that CAT III RVR mins, don't even start the approach. Save the G/A fuel and hold at the fix for the RVR to break.)There are other significant items (like Minimum Equipment Lists and Required Navigation Performance) which are part of the ILS "legal-ese" that are beyond the scope of FS, but the book is certainly an excellent read for anyone addicted to the Queen.

Cool :) looks like im gonna start doing more approaches by hand now. Thanks a lot guys :D