There seems to be so many theads on the AutoLand. Why are you guys so obsessed with it? I thought the whole purpose of buying a plane as complex as the 737-NGX was to learn to fly like a real world pilot? In the real world the majority of the time planes are landed manually by the pilots and most pilots do not even like using the autoland. If you can't land a 737-800 manually you can forget about flying the Heavies. (767, 747, MD11).

Paul. I think you'll find that its more of an "apparent" obsession. When people pay $70.00 for a product its quite normal for people wanting to explore all four corners of the room. Furthermore users such as myself have actually struggled to consistently operate the system successfully while precisely following correct procedure. Most people want to make sure their product functions correctly. For example, now that I know my autoland works, I can sleep easier at night and will go back to doing landings by stick.

Because time and time again flight simmers have asked the BIG question: Would I have a chance in hades of landing this thing in real life. And the answer from most real world pilots: Your best bet would be to attempt an autoland. Trying to hand fly it would be suicide.

Here is an interesting little TV report. They tried if a guy who only has experience with the PC Flight Simulator would be able to manually land the aircraft in an airline's full motion simulator. The result is interesting, even hough a full motion simulator still isn't the real deal. It's in German, but I think you will get the gist by the visuals:

p.s.: move the slider to 4m50s for the important part. The timecode doesn't seem to work on the forum.

Forum posts: Stating opinion as fact since 1992

Obviously don't want to accuse you of anything but is there any proof of that?

.. you can't always expect someone to read a whole thread.

Plenty of good reasons to do so though...but I am afraid you're right

Dunno... hand landing is easy for me.. No harder than parking a car in a garage..Every time I post a video of a landing, I usually get a "good landing" comment. :)

Hey guys, As some of you may know, I prefer manual landings,

I have over 6800 hrs flight time in the 737-767-747-MD11 planes on VATSIM.

This thread is an education ! Thank you, thank you... Bruno

Convinced me of what exactly ? I have been flying 737's for over 25 years. Fred.

Dear David and Fred, I know it is off topic, but I read here that together you represent 55 years of RW pilot experience.May be you can help me in the FS world. How does a pilot know the plane is exactly centered on the runway before start.I always try, but when I switch to external view the plane is always pointing to the left or the right.If I look at departing planes,I never see them steering left or right. (but maybe they do). Thanks for helping. Eric

I'm not a RW pilot but if you set the DEP runway in the FMC you get a nice extended runway line on the moving map that helps you aligning the aircraft with the runway. Without that feature on other aircraft: use the heading on the HSI and align it with the runway heading as good as you can. Other than that: practice, practice, practice.

Dear David and Fred, I know it is off topic, but I read here that together you represent 55 years of RW pilot experience.May be you can help me in the FS world. How does a pilot know the plane is exactly centered on the runway before start.I always try, but when I switch to external view the plane is always pointing to the left or the right.If I look at departing planes,I never see them steering left or right. (but maybe they do). Thanks for helping. Eric

That is not an issue in real airplanes as it is in flight simulators. On the real airplane you are actually sitting in it and have visual ques. With time you also get the feeling of where the nose landing gear is in reference to you, so you can also make perfectly precise turns. The nose wheel awarenes is something pilots start getting from the first time they fly general aviation airplanes. For someone who is sitting on the left, it is important to know how far the line has to be to the right, so that the nose landing gear is always sitting on the line for taxi. In the 737, the nose is not too far behind and if you enter the runway from a twy at 90º of it, in order to make the tightest turn, first you advance to the center completely perpendicular. Look to the side and then the center of the runway starts is close to appearing on the window behind yours, then you turn full lock. On bigger airplanes you have to give even more room. For example in an a773, to make the perfect 90º turn, you have to almost let the nose of the airplane go past the edge of the runway.

I followed some RW pilots conversation about staying on centerline. Someone said that simply "keep center line between his legs". Its strange, but probably due high sitting position you see it different than when you on the ground. Beside that, they can feel when main gear pass over center line lights.In NGX, default captain position, I keep center line just left of red master caution button/light. In turns, you need to practice, but its not hard at all Lj. Prodanovic

You may ask yourself why simmers use VNAV descent when real life pilot very rarely use it and prefer V/S or FL CH.Same question but different answer.In the world (yes, there is an "outside USA"), autolands can be decided by airlines policy. Few times a year for the training, in case of cat III bad weather landing or to control the aircraft systems. Some airlines require the use of autoland on specific airports. Let's forget about Airbus.The use of VNAV computed descent is never mandatory and lot of pilots don't rely on it...especially on Boeings :--)

Ermmm ... I usually don't do VNAV descents in the NGX either. ATC compliance and VNAV's inability to calculate a descent path that actually allows me to bleed off enough speed to meet speed constraints have made me go away from VNAV descents, mostly using V/S.

whats the fun in autolanding and sitting in front of a pc doing nothing,does not make sense,the real challenge would be to manually land the aircraft takes a bit of time and practice is not that difficult though.vivek

Made it into YPPH from VRMM at 7 hrs 21 minReserve Fuel after Engine Shutdown 6,600 lbs Di you only missed it by 1600 lbs lol. Good Guess.

Huh. Must've been using less lbs/min than I thought. Did a tail wind come along by any chance?

U can fly whole flight manually, its not to difficult, takes a bit of time and practice, but you can do it... Why to waste your time siting and watching AP control plane in cruise?

You know some airlines (especially the bigger ones) forbid manual flying above certain height? Considering some airlines have 5000+pilots of different cultures/nationalities/backgrounds, i find it reasonable. But i also find it a bit scary as they only get to hand fly in the sim. It was usually a nice conversation topic with Emirates' pilots during layovers.

U know, some concorde pilots loved to turn off autopilot at mach 2 and fly it manually. :) They loved to land manually too. I think its perfectly safe, and in that way you do not have to sit and watch AP doing all that job. I know some pilots on ATR72 that fly short routes (200nm aprox.) manually.

U know, some concorde pilots loved to turn off autopilot at mach 2 and fly it manually. :) They loved to land manually to. I think its perfectly safe, and in that way you do not have to sit and watch AP doing all that job. I know some pilots on ATR72 that fly short routes (200nm aprox.) manually.

I loved the ATR. We used to do positioning flights in Binter Canarias when I was working in Air Europa. That thing's a helicopter.

You know some airlines (especially the bigger ones) forbid manual flying above certain height? Considering some airlines have 5000+pilots of different cultures/nationalities/backgrounds, i find it reasonable. But i also find it a bit scary as they only get to hand fly in the sim. It was usually a nice conversation topic with Emirates' pilots during layovers.

Well the AP has to be engaged in RVSM airspace, that's probably what your thinking of...