Introduction
Aircraft today have been designed to land even with zero visibility depending on the status of the airport landing
facilities. Basically, the Boeing 777 is capable of landing with zero
visibility but usually it is restricted to a cloud base of 20 feet and a visibility of 100 meters.
To land in these foggy airports, pilots must be certified, qualified and current to do so. This means that they have to undertake special lessons in simulators before being certified and be qualified to execute an actual all weather operations automatic landing with very poor visibility. Besides, they have to maintain currency by performing at least 3 such landings, either in practice or actual in the last 180 days.
Therefore, if the airplane you are flying is manned by qualified and current aircrew, the chances of you being diverted from a foggy airport are very slim.
Information of Interest for Passengers
- You can expect a smooth flight during the approach to land in foggy condition as the air mass in fog is very stable with very light wind.
- Landing is executed by the Automatic Pilot under the supervision of the Captain.
- On landing, the aircraft will maintain center line by itself and will come to a safe stop by means of the
auto brake. Thereafter, the Captain takes over the control and if the visibility is very poor, a "Follow Me" truck will lead the aircraft to the parking bay.
