Can a commercial airplane land on autopilot?
Answers:
Yes, all new planes are programmed with airport landing strips so can approach and land on their own if ned be.this is only used in emergency situations or where the visibility is too poor for the pilot to actually see anything!
Watch Airplane or Airplane II - that should give you your answer. However the answer is yes.. Cheers!
Commercial airplanes mostly land on there own anyway. You still need a pilot there though incase of any problems which can't be seen or dealt with by the computer.
Most planes cannot land on their own. Auto pilot is for navigation in the air when manual control isn't necessary.
To land it, the plane would need censers around the landing gears to know where the ground is and how close it is and when touch down would occur and how slowly or quickly it should descend.
Not saying they aren't working on such things, but they haven't gotten it 'off the ground' and into planes yet. (No pun intended).
Yes ive been on one when it did , they have to do it so many times a year
No i dont think a plane could land on auto pilot cos then there would be no need for pilots at all
yes cheek A.N.A.some pilot first instrument landing in years about a month ago
Yes, modern airplanes are equipped with 'autopilot'. The airplane's computer takes total control of the aircraft.
Only in the instance of a CATT III approach where it is mandated by regulation and the aircraft is so equipped. All other landings are performed by the crew as outlined in their operational manuals.
This type of approach and landing are closely monitored by the crew and aborted if there is any sign of a problem or error at a pre determined point.
Many commercial airliners are equipped with "Autoland" capability, but it's only the larger and more advanced ones like the Boeing 757/767 and the Airbus A320. Also, any aircraft equipped to do a Category IIIc approach (Zero Ceiling, Zero Visibility) will have autoland. This not only requires special certification of the aircraft, but also of the crew to be able to operate the aircraft correctly, and still be in control even when it is on autopilot. These aircraft are equipped with radio altimeters, and announce the aircraft's altitude above the ground at regular intervals.
While many aircrafy CAN land on autopilot, unless there is a good reason to (i.e. weather) they usually are taken off of autopilot around 50-100 feet above the ground so that the pilot can manually flare the aircraft. Besides, most pilots enjoy hand-flying their landings, and take good ones as a source of pride and accomplishment. Rest assured that not even a majority of your airliner landings are done by computer.
First: a plane is always under a pilot's supervision, what we are talking about here is intervention, but the pilots always watch their automated systems or they end up as dead ex-pilots.
There are three variations on Cat III autoland:
a: 700 feet RVR (Runway Visual Range) 50 feet decision height
b: 600 feet RVR 50 feet decision height
c: 300 feet RVR 100 feet decision height
Hmm, another reference says IIIc is 0 ceiling and 0 RVR. But that would leave you unable to taxi becuase you couldn't see the runway. See the third reference.
Most, if not all, modern commercial aircraft can autoland, that isn't restricted to the larger aircraft, even small business jets can autoland. The business jet community are actually early adopters of new technology, so they are fitting HUDs and EVS (Enhanced Vision System) while the big boys won't fit EVS for some time.
All Airbus variants have Cat IIIb autoland. I believe all Boeings do too, maybe not some of the oldest 727s and 737s?
In the second link below, search for autoland and you'll see that the comments say this is a B737 panel which had an autoland capable autopilot fitted from 1982.
Since people keep saying no:-
AUTOLAND HAS BEEN COMMON ON COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT FOR 25 YEARS!
only some planes can. like newer ones.
A lot of unbelievable stupid answers on this one. Chris and PKD are the ones that have it right. Some FYI though, the DC-10 was equipped with Autoland and it was put into service in the 1970's, now more than 30 years ago.
yes you could
NO! while the navigation systems may be incredible and be able to point you to exactly where a runway is over hundreds of miles away a plane can't land on its own. There are to many variables and to many quick time adjustments to make. From glide path to wind correction angle, runway conditions, other air or ground traffic,magnetic deviance.
No, the plane would crash and blow up on the runway if it did that, the Auto-pilot is only used when in level flight, never in take-off or landing procedures, that is the only time the pilot is needed.
i cant believe the denial of auto land systems by some so called pilots.on the air bus range its fully auto apart from reverse thrusters. The other stuff..put your feet up
Yes if the airport and aircraft are equipped with CATIII ILS/autopilot
Like some of the others have said, yes, depending on the A/C. Is it normally done? Not that often.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouermaeq-. its the first fully automated aircraft landing.. watch it.. it answers your ? quite well
yes and in some conditions it is requiered, such as low visiblity
yes
yes if the plane and the airport are both equipped with instument landing system to make the plane land by itself
Autoland was on the Lockheed L1011 Tristars way back in the early 1970s, considered to be well advanced for the time!
Yes of course they can it is called a CAT3A<B or C landing. Usually the pilots will take control for the actual landing, but it is a requirement in the airline i worked for to have autolandings at regular intervals. We would tell the passengers afterwards as it can be quite a bumpy touchdown. All airbus are fitted with CAT 3 auto landing. Most Boeings in use these days have them. Maybe no the older 737's and 727's. If you ever get the chance to sit in the flight deck and witness this phenomenon it is quite amazing. Autoland has been available for the last 25+ years o it is not a new thing. It has been fitted to l-1011(tristars) and many pthers beside.
Yes airplanes can land themselves.and they routinely do (I'm speaking on behalf of civilian people-carriers).
This is only achievable if the pilot shows the airplane where to go: setting its Navigation Radio-1 (Nav-1) to the frequency of the destination airport's Instrument Landing System (ILS) frequency, so that the system/airplane can "see" the signals -the "Localizer" and "Glideslope"- which represent the runway and where one should land on it.
Also, if one is a navigation-Guru, its possible to actually use the Flight Management System's (FMS) Control Display Unit (CDU) to set an entire course: from ascent -when a pilot hands over to auto pilot- all the way through to the point where the airplane's Nav-1 detects the ILS signal.
When set in such a manner, the airplane will finish -on its own- the ascent, the cruise, up to the end of the descent. And if the end of the descent path is set such that it ends in the area where the ILS signal's beam ends (away from the runway), the only thing the pilot has to do (if its not possible to "slave" the Nav-1 to "see" the ILS via the FMS's CDU in advance) is to press the Auto-Approach switch (ususally labelled: "APR") on the auto-pilot panel when the end of the descent path meets the ILS beam. This will hand over auto-flight from FMS to the auto-pilot panel.and the airplane will simply continue along to the runway.
Before I forget, the pilot will also have to supervise the throttle because as he gets closer to the destination, the airplane will have to be slowed down to lower speeds that allow the flaps to be used (without being compromised by exessive airspeed).
You will notice from what I have just mentioned that there is still substantial input from the pilot thats needed: Manual control of the throttles and flaps (theres no "auto-flaps" to adjust flaps as speeds should be reduced during approaches).
In the end, there is always -albeit reduced- input/supervision from the pilot during auto-cruise or especially auto-landings.no matter how innovative/resourceful the pilot may be with the equipment before him/her. So if you are looking for that "completely hands-free" flight.from takeoff to landing, I'm afraid current technologies haven't quite gotten to that stage yet, but probably will sometime in the future.
yes
As most people has said the answer is yes. I have actually been on the jump seat in the cockpit during such an event. There is a theory that all that is actually needed in a cockpit nowadays are a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog. The dog is there to bite the man if he touches anything.
. ALL THE TIME .. PROVIDED AIRCRAFT IS EQUIPPED WITH IT AND CREW IS TRAINED TO USE IT AND THE GROUND EQUIPMENT IS WORKING .. AND WEATHER PARAMETERS PERMIT IT .TO BE USED .. AND RUNWAY IS STERILIZED AFTER EACH SUCH LANDING ...
The wingless wonder above has given a load of rubbish above. If Jonny pilot touches the throttles his auto throttle will kick out then the autoland is lost.
To answer the question, not only does the the aircraft land itself in CAT111c it also autobrakes in rollout, the aircraft has software to actually bring it to the gate in autopilot but no airport is equiped yet.
Yes, in theory, however the pilot should ideally be in the cockpit as auto taxi has yet to be installed and it would look bad if the pilot was sitting in the cocktail bar on the 747 while the co pilot was in the bog regurgitating a avindaloo and a couple of kids were sitting in the cockpit when it auto landed on the northbound carriageway of the M25 instead of at Heathrow
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