Auto Land

[Guest A321]

Hi all, I have a question regarding Autolands.When flying The A3xx series of planes I always autoland, but im thinking that this is wrong and surley it cant be that in the real world all airbuses land in full auto surley real world pilots like to land their craft manually. if you guys have the time can you answer the following questions for me:1)When should an autoland be done? 2)when should an autoland not be done? 3)Is it true that while doing an autoland in an 757 - 767 you let the autopilot fly it down to say 800ft AGL then you disconnect the AP and fly the rest manually.Sorry if my questions sound newbie, but i cant get my head round some of the landing concepts.Thanks guys.

[Guest]

* ungraceful bump :-) *I am interested in this as well. No airliners in here to answer that question? How's it done in real life?Keep the answers coming :-)

[Guest Martin]

Short answer (also serving as a bump, since someone will most likely provide a more detailed answer :-)):Autolands are only performed when the visibility prohibits a manual landing (for most aircraft this means CAT III conditions, i.e. a Decision Height, DH, of 100 ft or less and really low Runway Visual Range, RVR - don't remember the exact numbers for the RVR though), or when needed to maintain the currency of the aircraft and crew (i.e. to check that the aircraft and crew is still fit to do autolands).Autolands generally have tighter wind limits than manual landings - while an aircraft may have demonstrated landings in up to, say, 35 knots crosswind, autolands may be restricted to 10 or 15 knots crosswind (but this is generally not a problem, since when the visibility is low the wind is usually quite calm too).Note that an autoland is defined (at least this is my personal definition :-)) as when the autopilot flies the aircraft down the ILS, retards the throttles and flares the aircraft, and the pilots don't assume manual control of the aircraft until after touchdown (or until after rollout on some aircraft). If the autopilot is disengaged at 50 ft it isn't an autoland. Usually the pilots disengage the autopilot much sooner though, depending on personal preference, airline policy, and workload; If there is little traffic or ATC workload the pilots may disengage the autopilot and autothrottle at the beginning of descent, and if there is a high workload they might stay under autopilot control until the last few hundred feet on approach (usually the autopilot must be disengaged by DH though, which is normally 200 ft for an ILS CAT I approach).Turns out it wasn't a very short answer after all. ;-)Martin767 fetishistIt's a lot like life and that's what's appealing

[Guest wkzzo]

>Hi all, I have a question regarding Autolands.>>When flying The A3xx series of planes I always autoland, but>im thinking that this is wrong and surley it cant be that in>the real world all airbuses land in full auto surley real>world pilots like to land their craft manually. >>if you guys have the time can you answer the following>questions for me:>>1)When should an autoland be done? >>2)when should an autoland not be done? >>3)Is it true that while doing an autoland in an 757 - 767 you>let the autopilot fly it down to say 800ft AGL then you>disconnect the AP and fly the rest manually.>>Sorry if my questions sound newbie, but i cant get my head>round some of the landing concepts.>>Thanks guys.I can give no input on airbus,but generally autolands are done to keep the flightcrew and aircraft up to cert requirements, or if the weather gets below certain minimums.As far as disconnecting the autopilot on a 757/767 on a full autoland -not true. During the approach with the app mode armed, the remaining 2 autopilots are engaged(manually,or some carriers have the option to arm them automatically) and the autoland annunciator will display an autoland 3 annunciation, there will also be flare and rollout annunciation on the EADI showing that they are armed. at approximatly 50 feet RA throttles will roll to idle the aircraft will flare and hold the centerline during rollout.

[Guest A321]

Thanks for the answers guys,So really Most of the time Pilots Land manually? I think im relying too much on The Auto Land functions, IE PSS Airbus, PSS 777 panel coupled with the meljet, and the PSS 747 also with meljet.One more question if you guys dont mind :)When landing manually do you still press the approach button, What im getting at is do you allow the auto pilot fly down to a certin level then disengage and land your self.Thanks guys,Jason

[Jet Tech 31]

JasonMost of the pilots I have flown with do exactly that. While being Vectored on to the approach they will arm the APP button, Once the a/c is established on the LOC and G/S they disconnect and hand fly the remainder of the approach. If you really want a challenge, turn the A/P off and arm the approach mode, this will give you the Flight Director guidance to hand fly the Approach just like the A/P wouldRegardsPaul:-coolPaul GollnickTechnical Operations/Customer Operational SupportPrecision Manuals Development Groupwww.precisionmanuals.com

[Guest]

I fly 777's for Delta.We have to use the Auto land in anything less than 200 and 1000 RVR. in the 777, the autopilot has the capability to fly the ILS, flare, engage reverse, brake, and track the center line. That said, we rarely fly a "full" auto land.If the weather is better than what is mentioned above, we genrally hand fly. Or, if it's not that good, we will let "george" fly a ways down the ILS, than land manually.We, obviously, could let the auto pilot land always, the landings would probably be better :-)But we don't. I didn't learn to fly, etc... and work to get to the 777, to let george fly. so i don't.I personally hand fly unless the weather is below 400 and 1200. That's my limit. 1.2 kilometers of vis, may sound like a lot, but a night, with a 20 kt x-wind, it gets fun. :-)Isaac

[Guest]

"george"?

[Jet Tech 31]

"George" =The Airline Pilots affectionate name for the Autopilot Sytem :-lolPaul GollnickTechnical Operations/Customer Operational SupportPrecision Manuals Development Groupwww.precisionmanuals.com

[Guest]

Heh, interesting. I did not know that.I feel enlightened :-hahThanks :-lol

[Guest A321]

>I fly 777's for Delta.>>We have to use the Auto land in anything less than 200 and>1000 RVR. >>in the 777, the autopilot has the capability to fly the ILS,>flare, engage reverse, brake, and track the center line. That>said, we rarely fly a "full" auto land.>>If the weather is better than what is mentioned above, we>genrally hand fly. Or, if it's not that good, we will let>"george" fly a ways down the ILS, than land manually.>>We, obviously, could let the auto pilot land always, the>landings would probably be better :-)>>But we don't. I didn't learn to fly, etc... and work to get to>the 777, to let george fly. so i don't.>>I personally hand fly unless the weather is below 400 and>1200. That's my limit. >>1.2 kilometers of vis, may sound like a lot, but a night, with>a 20 kt x-wind, it gets fun. :-)>>>Isaac>>IsaacYour job sounds amazing, The 777 is fast becomming My top plane since I finally found harmony between The PSS panel and the meljet models.Thanks for the Advice, Dont you think its amazing taht the plane does all this. I shot a full auto land last night in to KLAS, my heart was racing, whats it like in real life, trusting computers with your life and the passengers lifes?, Do you feel nervous when the plane is auto landing?. I think your job is awesome, and well done for getting to where you are, I cant imagine it was an easy process to get to the point of flying the most advanced passenger jet on the planet. :-)

[Guest lalo lolo1]

Excuse my dumb question, but it seems I skipped the autoland section in the instructions.How do you autoland a plane in the simulator???. The panel of the 767 that I have shows the function but I was never able to make it work. The others don't show anything.ThanksLeo

[Azapata87 173]

hi,when ever I choose to perform an Autoland in fs with the PSS 777 panel I always keep my hand on or near the yoke and my finger on that Z button just in case the autopilot tries something sneaky...;-).Andrew

[MikeAdamo 51]

Bumping this message in hopes the MAAM thread will move into the archives or onto the Hangar Chat forum where it belongs! Better yet, let the parties involved sort it out themselves IN PRIVATE. Now there's an idea!