A How To Guide: Doing an ILS CAT-III-like Approaches & Landings

Overview

Did you know that you could perform a fully automated landings in *FSX / FSX:SE? I know, you didn’t know too, so did I, as I did all my ILS/IMC landing like other flight simmers have done before us… Until, I decided to go all the way with the Instrument Landing System up to touchdown…now you can have a perfect landing even on the most severe of weather conditions (such as: 0 visibility, 36 kts. direct crosswind, etc.)*Also works in X-Plane 11 and probably will also work on other flight simulators too.

Fully Automated Landings: especially on a severe weather condition — Yup, Possible and EASY!!!

A CAT-III-like* approaches and landings in FSX / FSX:SE are possible even if the aircraft and airport is not equipped for category-3 as long as the aircraft and airport is ILS capable. *For flight simulation / simulators only.

NOTICE: Yesterday, I tried the CAT-III-like approach & landing in X-Plane 11 using the default Boeing 737-800 and it worked as I expected! Weather is fair – haven’t tested in a severe weather condition yet.

A video to demonstrate what I am talking about: A CAT-III-like approach and landing!
Aircraft: Default Boeing 747-400 a.k.a. B744

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1st off, you must already know how to do an ILS approaches (you don’t have to be an expert, but, at least you need to be already comfortable doing ILS). If you do, you’ve already been doing it! — you just need to push it a little further and do some fine adjustments (tweaking) and you’ll have a perfect landing every time! Well, almost always perfect… know the aircraft + practice, practice, and more practice.

SO HOW DO YOU DO THE AUTOMATED LANDINGS:

IMPORTANT: ALTIMETER SETTING
One of the most important setting for a successful auto-landing is the correct altimeter setting among other usual preparations.

Do your ILS setup stuffs…

IMPORTANT: MODIFIED ILS SETTING
Since we are using normal ILS (not CAT-III rated) that we normally disengage at certain Alt. lvl. and we manually do the flaring, we need to change the way we set our approach: to have a smoother touchdowns and avoid the bouncing / floating.

1) For commercial jets and/or aircraft that does not require flaring:
Just use the usual ILS setting and just leave it until touchdown.

2) For other aircraft that requires flaring:

The TWEAKING part:
Instead of keeping the ILS needle centered, we need to set/keep the vertical bar/ball above the center mark (just about the mark before the center mark or about +3 to +5 degrees of the horizon on the AI) this can be done by lowering the speed a bit giving more +Angle-Of-Attack (AOA).

On approach to final, check if everything are set and ready to go. (e.g. autospoilers armed, *autobrakes armed, etc.)

Upon touchdown, manually disengage auto-throttle [ CTRL-R ], disengage auto-pilot [ Z ], do your usual braking [ . ], engage reverse-thrust [ F1 (at times needs more than 1 press) then press/hold F2 (for a sec. or two) ].

– To disengage reverse-thrust Press [ F1 ] again.

And for “DEFAULT” aircrafts without autobrake* (e.g. Learjet 45/ F/A-18A Hornet) / autospoilers/reverse-thrust: (e.g. F/A-18A Hornet).

* “Parking Brakes” [ CTRL+. ] could be used to simulate the autobrake set as **”Max. Autobraking”
and for the autospoilers, you manually deploy the spoilers [ / ] upon touchdown.

** Ironically, we have to simulate the “autobrake” in a simulator, and unfortunately, it can simulate maximum braking setting only. Also, great to use than the [ . ] (normal brake) as it seems to have equal pressure on both wheels (great when landing the F/A-18 in IMC). But, be aware that using the “Parking Brakes” might make your landings appear as a hard landing.

Note:
Use of this “Parking Brakes” technique is not always necessary, usually only in the most severe weather condition, downwind landing, short / wet runways.

General Aviation and others:
This CAT-III-like landing can also be done on GA aircrafts with ILS capability like Cessna 172 — you will just have to manually adjust the throttle (well, that’s how you really do it in a Cessna)

Note:
Shortcut keys shown are the default keyboard assignment – use whatever is your assigned keys/buttons/levers/switches on your controller.

More of CAT-III-like autolandings: (Latest video on top)

– A2A Lockheed Constellation L-049 on CAT-III-like approach and landing
I usually fly Connie manually this time I used FS Autopilot to test the CAT-III-like approach & landing (bad weather: dawn/snow/windy/low visibility).