The autoland lands better than me most of the time.Although I have never flown a plane with autopilot, to me this would too nerve wracking as a pilot. Personally I'd find myself too inclined to grab at the controls when coming in for a landing, just don't entirely trust computers at that altitude or lack thereof.
The autoland lands better than me most of the time.
Although I have never flown a plane with autopilot, to me this would too nerve wracking as a pilot. Personally I'd find myself too inclined to grab at the controls when coming in for a landing, just don't entirely trust computers at that altitude or lack thereof.
The first airplane I flew that could autolamd was the 320 then the 757/767 so it is fair to say I trusted it with a healthy dose of caution. Then I started flying the MD88. Flare high, don't flare, drift in the flare...combination of all 3 on occasion. The 88 does it all!
"Well shoot, I could have done that!"Autolands work great... until they don't
Gusty winds and those things get freaky!
I had one on the bus fail spectacularly a couple years ago on a CAT II to minimums. It overflared, went "I AM LE SORRY," then nosedived toward the runway. The CA grabbed full back stick but we still hit at right at 600 fpm. Yowza!