I ummed and ahhed over where I should post this. FSX General, P3D General, PMDG General? I thought here would be a good choice as it may get a little...heated.

 

A recent post sparked the idea for this thread. Who uses the Autoland capability in the Airliners more than landing manually?

In the past, I've seen people base their buying decisions on whether a certain addon can 'autoland' (my favorite is 'can it do an ILS?') In general, these people tend to be of the younger variety.

 

For me, the approach and landing is *the* challenge of Flight simming. I have PMDG's 737 and 777 and while these two beauties are almost 'autoland by default' (moreso the 777), I do everything I can to land them by hand. In fact, I try to fly the SID and STAR as much as possible, only using the Autopilot in the cruise and I don't fly routes that are longer than 2 hours.. (yeah, the 777 hasn't seen much use!)

 

I find it a bit disappointing to think that if addons had an 'auto takeoff' capability, then people would use this too. As far as airliners go, the NGX is my number 1, followed by the Q400 (no autoland available at all!) and the 777 taking up the third spot. This week I bought Aerosoft's brilliant Airbus Bundle and I haven't autolanded in that one yet and I don't think I will do either. The systems are heavily automated enough as it is. I really like the change though and it could eventually be my number 3 favorite.

 

Anyway, I'm starting to ramble. If you use autoland, give me your opinion and why is it necessary to have in an addon? I'm genuinely interested in a discussion.

If you want to fly using real world weather like asn or the like, you need autoland to simulate real world airliner ops.  I only use it when weather is below cat II Minimums, or to stay "current".  Have only needed it a few times in the past year.

I'm with you Neil.  Why let the program have all the fun!!

 

I hand fly up to about FL200-250 or so, depending on my mood.  On the STAR, I generally kick off the AP around 10000ft. 

I shift technique day-to-day. Sometimes I want a flight to be easy, so autoland it is. Most times I'll click the automation off and just hand fly. I wouldn't leap to detract from those who want an ILS or autoland to be implemented however, as that's just either a realistic simulation of the bird (or not, in the case of the Q400.) If I'm going to shell out $20+ for an addon, it had better be able to fly an ILS! As we know, the weather isn't always perfect. There's also nothing like performing a 0/0 autoland sometimes just to mix up your sim experience. I don't think anyone should do it either "This" way or "That" way, it just depends from person to person, flight to flight. I used to autoland a lot more, and as I've become more comfortable with the various airframes I do it less and less. 

I autoland probably as infrequently as they do IRL. Basically only when the visibility requires it.

I think its more than you think judging by what I see on Youtube videos and on Twitch.  Personally I like to hand fly the approach and landing unless limited by weather and even then its very rare that I have experienced weather below minimums when flying with ASN (although it does happen once in a while).  I usually do test the autoland on a new purchase just to make sure it works and I know how to work it properly.

There was an article in the NYT today that said a pilot in an A320 typically only hand flies his plane for less than three minutes thirty seconds a flight. So guess if you are really "simming" you hardly ever touch the controls. 

I use autoland for what is likely an uncommon reason: to make sure that an airport's AFCAD file and mag variations are correct. While following the ILS will tell you as much, I run an autoland to make sure things are positioned correctly, especially when I have to rework some airport addon that I had to pay a bunch of money for (QC seems to be going down the toilet these days).

 

So how's that for getting as close to OT without actually going OT? But to the spirit of the question: not often. Where's the fun in that?

I never use AP Period!  :unsure:

I use ASN, and I think I autolanded once or twice out of dozens of flights with the T7.  I use it only when really needed.

Landings would be boring without my "Pilot-Induced Oscillations"!  

I think its usual to kick off autopilot once fully established on the ILS, at least for tube liners. For how long pilots hand-fly during departure varies a lot I think.

I use it ONLY during bad weather, low FPS areas, and airports I have never flew into before. 

Depends on how many beers I've been drinking 

 

I prefer to hand fly it on departures and arrivals at least under 10,000 feet (sometimes higher)

 

I tend to not use the FSX vectors on arrival as I find that boring since it has been the same since FS2004. STARS are good or just have a look on what they are doing in FlightAware on that day and do the same approach.

I have never heard about pilots in big airliners HANDFLYING the approach WITHOUT being fully established on the localizer. At my home airport Tromsø, planes are often given a visual approach and turn right before the airport, but I've asked a pilot about this and they use autopilot almost all the way, except for the landing.