vectors

[avialuver33]

In low ceiling (<300') conditions, how does guidance from ground control work? Do they give you turns for down wind, base, and final if you're still in overcast, and then it's up to the pilot to fly the beam until the runway is established visually?

I flew from Myrtle Beach to Atlanta last month, and we made a series of turns in solid overcast. I could not see the ground until just before I saw the runway threshold. This was at night, too. The guys in the pointy end have my admiration.

[Intruder]

Standard approach procedures are published, and the pilots carry the procedures for the airports they use, and follow them. Sometimes controllers will give vectors to intercept the Instrument Landing System final approach course, but the pilots can follow the printed procedures even if there is a radio failure.

[vector4fun]

At an airport like Atlanta, it can be very complicated in a technical sense. But in basic terms, we use radar to separate and sequence the arrivals to a point some 10-20 miles from the runway threshold. At this point we clear the crew to join and follow the Instrument Landing System, ILS or "Beam" as you called it. However, we still must manage the speeds of these aircraft until they reach the Final Approach Fix so the spacing remains adequate. At ATL and similar fields with simultaneous approaches to several parallel runways, there will be controllers assigned to monitor the aircraft closely all the way down final, and who can override communications at any time in case one aircraft strays ever so slightly from the approach course.

There are dozens of considerations to take into account during these operations, both on the ground and in the cockpit. Even though I've been vectoring for over two decades now, I'm still awed at the skill and technology involved in allowing commercial jet aircraft to land in fog so thick, I'm scared to drive over 40 mph in it.....