What is the data source for Cat III autoland autopilot inputs?
Flight-testing on GLS for Category 3 approaches, which include autoland capability, continues at the FAA’s Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and in Europe through the Single European Sky ATM Research (Sesar) program in Toulouse, France, and Frankfurt.
As part of its research last year, Boeing completed 12 Category 3 GLS autoland approaches with its 787 “ecoDemonstrator” at the company’s Moses Lake, Washington, facility, a location that also uses a Honeywell GBAS.
Delta Air Lines conducted its inaugural GBAS landing with a Boeing 737 at Newark on Feb. 18, joining United Airlines and British Airways (BA), which were already flying the approaches there.
United is averaging 65-70 GBAS landing system (GLS) approaches at Newark and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport each month with a portion of its Boeing 737 and 787 fleets, which come with GLS avionics as standard equipment. United has more than 95 737s and 14 787s with GLS avionics, and is selecting the option for all newly delivered 737s. BA is flying GLS approaches with its 787s into Newark.
Delta is using the approaches in Houston as well as in Newark, and has a fleet of more than 42 GLS-equipped 737s. The carrier is investigating GLS for its Airbus fleet as well. In total, the airline plans to have 177 aircraft equipped for the approaches by 2019, according to the FAA.
A growing number of foreign airlines also are using the capability at Newark and Houston. Emirates conducted its first GLS landing in Houston in December with an Airbus A380, one of 57 GLS-equipped A380s at the time. The carrier also uses the approaches at Sydney, Frankfurt and Zurich. And Lufthansa made its first GLS landing in Houston in December with one of 12 equipped A380s that also use the approaches in Sydney and Frankfurt. Cathay Pacific made its first GLS landing in Houston, with a Boeing 747-8, at the end of January. The FAA says Virgin Atlantic is also planning to seek operational specification approval for the approaches into Newark. Other foreign carriers purchasing GLS-equipped aircraft include Air Berlin, Qantas, Swiss Air, TUIfly and various Russian airlines, the FAA says.
https://support.indra.no/index.php?/News/NewsItem/View/18/sesar-prototype-cat-iii-gbas-in-operation
We are pleased to see our efforts in developing the NORMARC 8100 GBAS bear fruit. Ever since Norway’s short-runway airports started using our pioneering SCAT-I satellite landing system for commercial traffic in 2007,
Autoland cat III is still ILS+radio altimeter and possible IRS, I am not expert here, we have better folks here. But for sure there is no GBAS for CAT III available now for commercial operators, no ground station in the world has been certified yet. All the commercial operators GBAS approaches are still cat I.
The inputs to the auto land on a CAT IIIa 737 (no rollout mode) are the usual – LOC, GS, RA and the various attitude/air data parameters. It has logic to detect fluctuations in the glideslope as opposed to deviations to avoid aggressive actions in the case of a scalloping glideslope. Flare/Rollout are available for more $$$$ but involve a third yaw gyro and rudder servo.
It starts phasing out the LOC and GS at around 50-75ft RA and holds a constant ground track and adjusts rate of descent based on RA and RA rate. The DA/RVR of 50ft/200m require you to see enough lights to assure yourself the aircraft will land in the touchdown zone as the holding of constant ground track means the aircraft will drift slightly off the runway centreline in the last few feet. The RA/RA rate logic also leads to a longer flare and touchdown than a manual landing, requiring an extra 140m additive on the landing distance to allow for this.
