Gents and Ladies, I pose the question as an ex aviator but not airline.
How is it that we now have aircraft resorting to the use of autoland in order to extract themselves from difficulties? Three come to mind in recent times, 330 Perth, 330 Sydney and 320 Adelaide. I dont recall any stories of the 707, 727, DC-9 days of old finding themselves in similar situations (OK there was a F-28, was it Pt Headland? that ended up on country strip). How has the industry changed? Economics driving fuel policy with an unspoken "they've got autoland if they find their backs to the wall"? Or did the people of old find themselves occasionally having to fly a ILS to touch down with the rudimentary equipment they had? No offense meant, just interested.