Cat 3

[AAmech]

Ok I need an AMT here. I had an instructor tell me that WN does not have an LMP program and all their planes are CAT 1.
Can someone clue me in. I think he''s thinking of AWA and even then his info is old as they have, or are developing an LMP program.

 

[WNjetdoc]

[blockquote]
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On 1/24/2003 904 PM AAmech wrote:

Ok I need an AMT here. I had an instructor tell me that WN does not have an LMP program and all their planes are CAT 1.
Can someone clue me in. I think he's thinking of AWA and even then his info is old as they have, or are developing an LMP program.
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[/blockquote]
Your instructor my be getting "auto-land" and "CATiii" confused. We do not have auto-land activated on our a/c. All of our a/c are CATiii, except for the few -200 we have, which I have not seen in a 'coons age. They are kept down in Dallas country. We use HUD to shoot CATiii landings. Hope that helps brother.

 

[AAmech]

Thanks Jetdoc! I didn't think that instructor knew what he was talking about. Heck he hardly knew the subject he was teaching! AA's 737's are set up the same way, HUD but no Auto-land. Nobody has ever explained to me the advantage HUD has over auto-land or why they don't use a combination. All the rest of AA's fleet is CAT 3 with auto-land.

 

[JoeBlow]

The advantage of HUD over auto-land is cost of maintenance.

HUD is only a sophisticated a projection system. It is fairly inexpensive to maintain. The pilot flies the plane.

With auto-land you have to use both autopilots at the same time and they have to be very close to each other in performance. They are being compared to each other all the time. It costs a lot of money to certify and maintain the autopilots to the standards required for auto-land.

HUD can get you to 50 feet over the runway. For most approaches 700 feet visibility is required. For a 737 domestic operation the HUD will get you in most of the time.

Now if you are flying 747’s across the pond and landing in zero-zero visibility fairly often auto-land is a better deal. Then it is worth the extra cost to maintain the system. It just depends on how much you need to be able to land without being able to see the runway.

 

[B737NG]

AAmech what station are you from? I am a mechanic at ORD and saw your post, I hope you were not referring to our training dept. here in Chicago. Thanks for your reply....

 

[AAmech]

I'm down in exciting TULE! Most of our instructors here are pretty good but the last one I had was a Sandman who wasn't even that up on his subject.