Thursday, January 31, 2013

CAT3B APPROACH AND AUTOMATIC LANDING



    After long flight, 14 hours from Sydney to Abu Dhabi, arriving at destination descending into thick fog for landing.    Thanks god the runway is equipped with the ILS, Instrument Landing System that can support CAT3B approach, mean the aircraft will lock on via the ILS and fly down to the runway by itself, follow by automatic landing..  So as the pilot, what do we do..?  Just observe and take over in the event of abnormalities..

  This video was my recent flight, in winter of Abu Dhabi, with the reported visibility was only at 200 meters. We can only proceed for the approach when the visibility is at 75 meters or greater. So there we were...  only saw the runway on touch down, all automatic..I took over when the plane was safely on the ground,  and the taxi to the parking had to be guided by the Follow Me car..