Last night I downloaded a freeware DC-10. I engaged the Auto Pilot and locked onto the ILS. Then, I noticed a button labled "Auto Land" on the panel. So I turned it on. Just befoe touch down, I turned off the auto speed control, and watched to see what would happen. The plan auto Landed!Is this a real control, on big jets? I have not seen it before on my other airplanes? If it really exist, then what does this do for the pilot with regard to procedures for minimums? And last, I guess FS9 really support this feature, as it did seem to work unless I just lucked out with this landing.Thanks,jim

Autoland functions are either guages or utilities. For instance, I have a FS2002 utility called Autoland 2002 which will Autoland almost anything in FS2000/FS2002. An autoland gauge is simply code that monitors altitude and other factors, such as pitch, speed or rate of climb. In the case of my utility, all it does is retard the throttles, and use the A/P to program in a positive climb rate to simulate flare. As developers, we all do it a bit differently, but autoland gauges are quite doable within limits.The autoland gauge you have may work in other jets, or it may be tuned to the DC-10's FDE. -John