Originally Posted by
punkalouver
I know that having the weather below 800-2 automatically initiated enhanced protection at certain American airports, but doesn’t CATIII require an even higher level of protection on the ground?
I ask this because as far as I can tell, the only clearance for a CATIII approach appears to have been given by the FedEx crew to themselves(which I am not sure is legal). By stating that they were doing a CATIII approach, they were stating that if they encountered no visual contact(or almost no visual contact), they would continue with an auto land, basically relying on the autopilot to land and under the belief that no interference to the ILS signal would happen based on CATIII protection. This includes vehicles and perhaps increased aircraft spacing.
If a higher level of protection is required for CATIII than 800-2, how does one ensure that it is being provided. I would think that would be by hearing the controller say that you are cleared for a CATIII ILS(which apparently was not the case).
Just a regular pilot, so FWIW. The critical area is kept clear for aircraft inside the FAF when below 800/2. Normally that is at least 5NM, but in Austin the FAF is only about 3NM from the treshold, depending on the rwy. I do not know if the Austin controllers are supposed to use 5NM....