WHY in this day and age cant an aircraft take off and land in fog????

Answer 1

the pilot is only there to taxi the plane to and from the stand and to and from the runway . also to put the flight destination in .also the pilot has to press a button during take . other than that the plane can fly its self. as like on the Greek flight when all on board bar one were dead as it flew from Cyprus to Athens. it crashed because it ran out of fuel .
there is no technical reason why it cant

Answer 2

THIS CAN BE DONE. Please see the gulfstream link below. Its what you have been looking for. It includes Video examples of flying, landing and taxiing in poor light (ZERO visibility).

I am VERY sure that several aircraft exist with technology that allows you to see the terrain and obstructions in ANY weather. There are some business jets equipped with these features. When combined with (IFR) precision navigation instruments that have existed for decades, aircraft can safely land and take off and even taxi in poor visibility.

HOWEVER, being able to do something doesn't mean that you should. Some more practical considerations:

1. Alternate Airport - Its logical that if an aircraft is so well equipped to fly in any weather, it would just as easily have sufficient range to fly to another airport with better weather.

2. Ground Support and Transportation - Land then WHAT? How will ground support vehicles operate safely?

3. If visibility is near zero, the airport would probably be closed, since 99% of all aircraft using it would not be able to taxi safely in the fog.

I am willing to guess that Gulfstream Jocks have landed and will continue to land in extremely poor visibility when the price is right, but it will be decades before this practice is acceptable for pilots on larger commercial airliners where a mistake can cost 500 lives in the blink of an eye.

EDIT:
Any fog limitation is largely about TAXI hazards. IFR doesn't help this enough. EVS does.

Answer 3

On instrument approaches, depending on if you have an IMC or a full instrument landing, the final touch down must be visual. The height at which you can legally come down to is set by the CAA and the airfield instrument approach procedures which you should know before blast off.
Even when on a full ILS approach, in real pants weather,there comes a point on approach where you look up from the instruments and attempt to identify the runway, if you can not, you power up and go back into the pattern and start again.
Although BA and other airlines can land in fog completley on automatic pilot(which is amazing), as one of your other answers states, you need to see whats on the runway. **** ups happen and if it means either smashing into another aircraft or diverting to another field 200 miles away I know what i'd do....

Answer 4

It's not so much of a problem with the aircraft and landing or taking off, it's issues on the ground that are the biggest cause of concern. The worlds worst (non terrorist) aircraft disaster involved 2 x 747's at Tenerife in the fog, pilots taxied into the wrong area and it was too late to save a collision on the runway.

Answer 5

The Trident was doing it years ago, it was the first commercial airliner in history to have a full Cat IIIB Autoland system i.e. it was able to land itself when visibility was too low to allow a manual landing. However, this requires an expensively equipped aircraft, specific ground equipment, specially trained crews and a captain with nerves of steel!

Then there are still difficulties and dangers on the ground, as several others have so rightly pointed out. It's generally considered not worth while in the round.

Answer 6

They can. I'll have to explain it gradually but here it goes. Modern airliners can intercept an ILS system, consiting of two signals. The Vertical guidance is called the glideslope, and this leads the aircraft to the foot of the runway. The Lateral guidance is the localizer, and this alligns the aircraft with the centreline of the runway. Now, ILS falls under diffrent classifications or Categories. Category 1( called CAT I) Gives the aircraft the ability to land under a DH of 200ft and an RVR of 1,800 feet. CAT II allows for a DH of 100 ft and an RVR of 1,200feet.

CAT III C certification allows the pilot to land without any decision height and no RVR limitations. But not all Aircraft are certified for CAT III.The reason, this is expensive is the aircraft needs to be modified, and certified. The crews also need to be certified. The aircraft also needs to do an Autoland landing every 30 days. The airport also need to have an ILS capable of CAT III C operations.


Therefore, if you operate an airline with a hub at Phoenix for example, it would me feasable to cancle youre flights than get CAT III certification just in case you need to operate a week out of a whole year.

Takeoff minimums are published for every airport and runway. An additional factor may be the decision of the Pilot in command. He may object to operating his aircraft in such conditions.

Oh yeah, and the L1011 was able to do a CAT III C landing is 1986. So was the Trident.

And I also mentioned RVR. RVR is Runway Visual Range, basically a distance in feet that the pilot can expect to see forward in his airplane.

If you are unsure of somethign, e mail me.

Answer 7

doggies is thoroughly incorrect. that is not something in any respect to do with sat nav. in case you inspect the airfield you will see an array of aerials in basic terms previous the tip of the runway. that's named the Localiser. From right here a complicated radio beam is despatched out this is alligned with the centre-line of the runway and extends approximately 20 miles previous. The beam includes 2 overlapping lobes, all and sundry modulated with a various AF sign. The lobes overlap such that the two AF alerts are at equivalent capability precisely alongside the runway centre line. Aeroplanes carry kit which could interpret the alerts carried by this 'localiser' beam and couple as much as the autopilot. this could furnish directional guidence to the airplane so as that it has horizontal, or azimuth, coaching as a consequence it may land precisely on the runway's centre line. alongside the runway, a pair of million/4 of that is length from the threashold, or landing, end, you will see a vertical pole with aerials on it. that's the 'Glidepath' aerial array. From right here a complicated radio beam (reminiscent of the localiser) is despatched up interior the process the appraching airplane. it quite is angled at 3 levels from the horizontal. kit carried on the airplane reminiscent of that for the localiser sends administration alerts to the autopilot. as a consequence the airplane is guided on the dazzling perspective of innovations-set all the way down to the runway threashold. between those 2 radio beams (mutually referred to as the device landing device or ILS) the airplane could be guided totally rapidly all the way down to the floor and thoroughly alongside the centre of the runway till it stops. Aeroplanes often lock directly to the ILS while they're between 10 and 20 miles from landing (reckoning on the aerodrome). There are different approaches of landing airplane at the same time with MLS yet those at the instant are not in effortless use.

Answer 8

A pilot can definitely land in fog but it's not the safest thing to do. It's usually up to the PIC to make a constructive decision on whether landing would be an option (according to visibility). The control tower usually has some say also.. (Traffic wise)

Answer 9

They can

I landed in fog yesterday evening (RVR 400 meters)
pretty spooky.

(aircraft certified CAT IIIA)

CAT III autoland equipment is very reliable with the proper procedures and safeguards. The safeguarding procedures do slow down the traffic flow causing delays.

It is also possible to make manual landings off a CAT II approach in RVR down to 300 meters if you have the proper runway lighting.

Like others have said, the biggest danger in low visibility operations is hitting another aircraft on the runway. The technical solution to this is ground movement radar but not all airports with CAT II/III approaches have ground radar. There was a fatal accident in Milan a few years ago because their ground radar was not available, yet they still allowed LV operations.

Answer 10

Taxiing on the runways is a problem still and also by road for passengers/staff that are making their way to the airport.
Travelling by plane at this time of the year there is always a risk of fog. I cannot understand the general public not knowing this and being prepared for delays. Why did it come as a surprise to people.