Autolands at Luton!!
 

Been working nr Luton Airport for the past 2 months, and have seen many Easy/ryan 737s landing on Rwy 08 as we drive in/out of work.
Fascinating to see them pop out of cloud, as we drive down the road next to the Ibis hotel. An a/c (not sure what type/operator, it was so foggy!!!) materialized as we left work at 5pm today - bloody spectacular, with lights and vapour straming!!

Anyway, (enough drooling) my point is: what is the cloudbase/visibilty minima for 08 at Luton?
Is it higher than Cat III because of the uneven terrain just before touchdown?
Is an autoland harder/easier than manual landing?

Anyway, all yoke/sidestick operators: keep up the good work!!!!!

PS: I'd be there myself if it wasn't for lousy eyesight/hearing, asthma, (violin starts playing) no money, etc...etc....etc...

PPS: Anyone in the Flying Club bar this dinnertime, the rowdy shower having the meal was us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LTN RW08 is indeed CATIIIB.
Decision height is 0' RA and IRVR 75m.

I thought cat 3B was 14 feet and 75 meters.

Auto lands easier or harder? The fact you are doing them in such bad weather makes for a fairly tense approach, done in CAVOK they are straight forward. They usually end with a bit of a thump at Luton, dont know why, maybe the undulating terain and runway.

Cat 3B minimums are airline specific - my present mob use 0ft and 75m, my last mob used 20ft and (I think) 125m - same aeroplane though.

Although we operate to CAT IIIA only at all airports. Our equipment is not good enough for CAT IIIB, therefore: 50' RA and 200m RVR

Leeds, like Luton, sits amongst very awkward terrain. The Fokker 70/100, which is a Cat 3B (0ft, 75M) aircraft cannot autoland there and must do a Cat 2 to a manual landing, whereas the 737 which is a Cat 3A (50ft, 200m) can autoland. This is on account of the different bias each aircraft applies to all the autoflight system inputs - some will favour the radio alt more than the glideslope as they approach the flare, for example.

Cat 3B autolands at Luton are no problem in a 'bus. However, the 737 floats on and on, and often touches down at approximately the last set of fixed distance markers (sometimes beyond them). Some consideration of this is taken in the performance planning. However, the aircraft also has a nasty habit of flaring at about 14ft radio alt and then dropping to the ground like a stone.

Altogether, not a happy experience - but then, Luton isn't a very safe airport (see letter in Flight International a while ago).