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When todo an Autoland. (Read 183 times)
Dec 22nd, 2004 at 8:53pm

jrpilot   Offline
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At what wind gust/crosswind does a pilot normally opt for a Autland wether it be a Cat 2 or Cat 3...I just tried 8 times to landing the PSS airbus A320 and KMCO (Orlando) and not once did I come close to landing on the strips...and it was only a 11 knot crosswind...I know it is a game but sh*t I keep screwing up any help, becasue in real llife you only get once unless you call for a missed approach:P?

Thanks
 
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Reply #1 - Dec 23rd, 2004 at 12:20am

beefhole   Offline
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common' yigs!
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I think its company standards, but the pilot also has to assess his own ability... are we talking about autoland or ILS here?  I've never used autoland (dont have payware aircraft) but I know for a fact ILS can not handle heavy crosswinds, and autoland is very similar (isn't it?  I thought the only diff was that autoland will flare the acft and do a roll-out for you).  In a crosswind landing in VFR weather I will use ILS until about 300 ft from touchdown, when the winds will really start blowing you off track and then I disengage ILS and go visual.  If it's CAT III weather and thers a strong xwind I go for my alternate, and I believe real pilots would too... tell me if I'm patronizing you, not sure how much you know  Wink
 
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Reply #2 - Dec 23rd, 2004 at 7:31am

Nexus   Offline
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The greater of two evils...

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Usually the larger the aircraft, the higher cross wind component is allowed for an autoland (larger mass, larger inertia)..I believe it's 25knots for the 777 and "only" 15knots for the 737. However a 15kt crosswind is usually quite strong, since ATC will assign you a runway where the winds will be more "head on" with the aircraft

Let's say you are cleared to land at 24R,the wind is coming from 275 at 30 whopping  knots, by using a chart I can determine that the crosswind component is just 18 knots...but no conditions for autolanding  a 737 though  Smiley

But in most cases, it's not the wind that forces you to do an autoland, it's the visibility. The max. allowable crosswind component for MANUAL landings are way higher compared to autolandings. The 777 can have a crosswind of 45kts, and still land legally (if the runway is dry)...but I doubt many would even try that, I don't think the rudder is FBW   Grin

My advice is just to keep on practicing Jr. Crab into the wind and keep that localizer needle centered, and follow the FD commands!
 
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