Autoland availability, USA and Canada
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Autoland availability, USA and Canada
Wondering how many airports in North America are Cat 3b enabled on one or more runways, and would activate and authorise
random full autoland activity other than in reduced vis and/or less than Cat 1 ILS conditions? I'm not including practice
autoland requests in good weather where separation and aerial protection procedures don't interfere with normal ops at busy times.
Have been following the SFO incident thread with interest, and can't help noticing that a significant number of posts seem to assume that
'Autoland' is enabled by aircraft equipment only, and might therefore be a simple solution where 'Human Factors' might be below spec?. One person, who otherwise appeared well informed, even claiming to know that "Some airlines insist on use of autoland". ( not sure how for practical reasons that would figure in the MEL,
and I suspect that many won't have appreciated just how much the extra maintenance costing for Cat 2 and 3 flight and ground equipment is )
( Although I'm familiar with Cat 3b ( last two years of DC10 + 747, 100, 200, and 400 ) I swapped away from all that good stuff back to Cat 1 in 1998, and so am genuinely way out of date. On my last aircraft, the cost of reinstatement to Cat 2 would have out-stripped the aircraft's value! )
random full autoland activity other than in reduced vis and/or less than Cat 1 ILS conditions? I'm not including practice
autoland requests in good weather where separation and aerial protection procedures don't interfere with normal ops at busy times.
Have been following the SFO incident thread with interest, and can't help noticing that a significant number of posts seem to assume that
'Autoland' is enabled by aircraft equipment only, and might therefore be a simple solution where 'Human Factors' might be below spec?. One person, who otherwise appeared well informed, even claiming to know that "Some airlines insist on use of autoland". ( not sure how for practical reasons that would figure in the MEL,
and I suspect that many won't have appreciated just how much the extra maintenance costing for Cat 2 and 3 flight and ground equipment is )
( Although I'm familiar with Cat 3b ( last two years of DC10 + 747, 100, 200, and 400 ) I swapped away from all that good stuff back to Cat 1 in 1998, and so am genuinely way out of date. On my last aircraft, the cost of reinstatement to Cat 2 would have out-stripped the aircraft's value! )
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Some info from the FAA can be found here: Flight Operations Branch - Category I/II/III ILS information
But it looks like not many Cat II and almost none are cat III
ETA: even better the ILS master list for the USA
Flight Operations Branch - ILS Master List
But it looks like not many Cat II and almost none are cat III
ETA: even better the ILS master list for the USA
Flight Operations Branch - ILS Master List
Last edited by LASJayhawk; 15th Jul 2013 at 01:02.
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Thanks Jayhawk....Much as I suspected. I'm assuming still not really justified on weather
and cost statistics for most general civil aviation in the US.
So it appears that the day has yet to dawn, when the basic handling skills of pilots may
be overlooked in favour of zippy avionics fed by multiple channels of purified wiggly amps
and human fast-track typists.
Much as Airline management and nervous passengers crave reassurance that computers will take
the risks out of flying, companies are, for the time being, still going to have source individuals who can
soak up the basic elements of applied aerodynamics; cope with simple mental arithmetic, and stay
awake in the dark.
As a lad on Britannias, we had 'Ultra' electric throttles.......no Auto Alpha Floor protection there, but if
you frightened the Flight Engineer, he'd hit you with the tech log....That seemed to work..
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1959/1959%20-%203388.html
(We could also select an auto-coupled ADF approach - as in outer marker NDB. Not many VORs around then.
Never knew any body that tried it out though.....)
The power lever was a sort of rheostat connected to an amplifier.....
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1964/1964%20-%202325.html
Never went wrong in the four years that I knew it, but if you lost all the electrics, you couldn't shut the engines down.
(I suppose if you were in the air, you wouldn't want to.)
and cost statistics for most general civil aviation in the US.
So it appears that the day has yet to dawn, when the basic handling skills of pilots may
be overlooked in favour of zippy avionics fed by multiple channels of purified wiggly amps
and human fast-track typists.
Much as Airline management and nervous passengers crave reassurance that computers will take
the risks out of flying, companies are, for the time being, still going to have source individuals who can
soak up the basic elements of applied aerodynamics; cope with simple mental arithmetic, and stay
awake in the dark.
As a lad on Britannias, we had 'Ultra' electric throttles.......no Auto Alpha Floor protection there, but if
you frightened the Flight Engineer, he'd hit you with the tech log....That seemed to work..
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1959/1959%20-%203388.html
(We could also select an auto-coupled ADF approach - as in outer marker NDB. Not many VORs around then.
Never knew any body that tried it out though.....)
The power lever was a sort of rheostat connected to an amplifier.....
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1964/1964%20-%202325.html
Never went wrong in the four years that I knew it, but if you lost all the electrics, you couldn't shut the engines down.
(I suppose if you were in the air, you wouldn't want to.)
