Doing the tutorial I get to the end and at 1800 ft, flaps 10, spd 149 or so, runway in site and straight ahead,, and then the Autoland light comes on, blinks and then states No Autoland. I ignore it and the plane makes a beautiful autoland anyway. Of course I have done something wrong,,just not sure what.

 

I am supposed to have the Approach button set when close, yes?

Flaps 10 ?

So is that the  problem,,needed more flap?

Hi Paul,

 

Normally you would be fully configured for landing well before passing through 1500' Radio altitude as that is where the Autoland Isolation occurs.  Normal landing flaps are either Flaps 25 or Flaps 30.  I think if you get fully configured a bit earlier it should work properly.

Hi Paul,

 

Normally you would be fully configured for landing well before passing through 1500' Radio altitude as that is where the Autoland Isolation occurs.  Normal landing flaps are either Flaps 25 or Flaps 30.  I think if you get fully configured a bit earlier it should work properly.

 

I find being fully configured early is never a bad thing (from  10-4nm (I setup radial fixes in the FMC to help me here), will go around if I am not stable or happy with the approach by 4nm).  I usually setup for every ILS approach AS IF it will be an Autoland, whether or not I actually DO Autoland. Once I have the G/S, will decide on that based on visibility/wx etc.

Thanks, I think I am too used to those lesser virtual airliners that let you get away with things. I still wonder why it did autoland when it said No Autoland.

The AP even in single channel will drive the plane to the runway. You lose all redundancy however in case of failure + all other autoland features (e.g. stab trim bias, rollout, rudder and de-crab control etc)

I should have Approach button activated at what point then?

I should have Approach button activated at what point then?

You'd want to do it before you capture the glideslope, though I suppose you could do it before you capture the localizer.

I should have Approach button activated at what point then?

I press the APPR button when I see the lower pink diamond (which represents the localizer) start to move towards the center of the PFD.

I should have Approach button activated at what point then?

 

As you see the pink diamond move down the right hand side of the PFD, hit the approach button on the MCP when that pink diamond is just getting near the middle of the display. You should always be coming at the glide slope from underneath to capture it. If you are using ATC, they should, with luck, get you down to between about 2200 and 3500 feet (depending on terrain etc) at something like 5-10 miles out, by which point the aircraft should be all stable and configured for landing. Don't forget to arm the spoilers (press shift+/) and set the autobrake as required too.

 

If something goes wrong and it isn't approaching automatically, don't fret, fly it manually - just keep the horizontal and vertical pink ILS approach markers centered on the PFD and get the throttle to keep you at your correct approach speed (typically about 145 knots ish, depending on weight). Aim for getting the main wheels on the runway's piano markers. It is very easy to land and flies beautifully, so you should be able to use very minimal inputs to keep it lined up nicely, you can use the runway's PAPI lights to help you too (two red and two white and you're in the pipe). Start to flare it a bit when you get to about 40 feet, chop the throttle and let it settle (don't flare too much or you will risk a tail strike). When it touches down, hit the reverse thrust (Control+F2), brake manually at 60 knots and open the throttle slightly to shut off the reversers.

 

If you put the approach into the FMC (don't forget to check for and close any discontinuities and to press execute after entering a STAR and runway), you should see flap speed markers on the left side of the PFD to help you and the FMC will tune the nav radio ILS frequency for you automatically.