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Old 8th January 2010 | 12:49
  #338 (permalink)  
safetypee
 
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 2,776
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From: UK
Re the use of HUD:

Using ILS guidance at low altitude requires good beam quality. Some Cat 1 installations suffer low altitude beam bend and the GS may suffer more than normal ‘parabolic’ distortion, the latter taking the aircraft high.
If there is a flare mode, this may depend on the quality of the undershoot ground plane. In this instance an approach over water followed by a ‘sea wall’, etc, might not be conducive to high accuracy. Thus even where the Rad Alt reduces beam bend problems, the flare and touchdown point might not be as accurate as with a Cat 3 ground installation - and Cat 3 doesn't assure a short touchdown anyway.

In the visual mode the FPV indicates where the aircraft is going. However, this depends on the pilot being able to recognise the immediate surroundings and the aiming point, which in poor visibility can be subject to considerable error. Ultimately this is no different to a manual landing; you should always know where you are and where you are going.
Head-up speed and altitude indications should provide awareness of the flare progress, but in high stress landings pilots don’t always scan the ‘displays’ – they might ‘see’ the information, but don’t comprehend it.
Possibly time to consider HUD fixation, or the if the routine use of HUD generates technology dependency – loss of basic awareness skills.
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