An observation I occasionally hear from Customers as we chat during the boarding process is that as Pilots we don't actually fly the aircraft very much; rather, the autopilot does all of the work. My initial response is "yes and no". I have flown aircraft in which I did the takeoff and at 400 feet above the ground could engage the autopilot, and the airplane was capable of flying several thousand miles, make the approach, land, and slow to taxi speed. All the Crew had to do was verfiy that the information the plane used to make the flight was correct, disconnect the autopilot and autobrakes, and taxi off the runway and to the gate (and, yes, take over if the system failed!!). Southwest's 737 aircraft do not have autoland, but the autopilot is capable of all other phases of flight.
For the most part, Pilots at Southwest use the autopilot as drivers use the cruise control in the family car: to ease our workload during hours and hours behind the wheel, and to keep us refreshed. We actually "hand fly" the autopilot by inputting commands into the autoflight system to tell the aircraft to climb, descend, and cruise at a particular altitude. Certain reduced visibility approaches require the autopilot to be used until ready for landing. The lowest visibility approaches flown at Southwest actually require the Captain to hand fly the aircraft using special guidance systems to descend to within 50 feet of the ground before we have to see the runway and needing only 700 feet of forward visibility. We can even takeoff with as little as 300 feet of visibility (the length of a football field) at certain airports, making it safer to fly that day than it was to drive to the airport.
Sometimes it is better for the Pilot to do the flying than the autopilot. A case in point was during my last flight sequence flying into Kansas City (MCI) and St. Louis (STL). In both cities, the winds were very strong and gusty, over 71 mph just a couple of thousand feet above the ground, and over 40 mph at the surface. The autopilot does not handle these conditions very well, so we get to do all the work.
So the next time you are flying along, taking advantage of Southwest's low fares, enjoying a cold beverage and our award-winning Flight Attendants' gracious hospitality, and wondering who is doing the flying during the "cruising" part of your flight, it is probably the autopilot. But rest assured, there are two highly trained individuals in the first row of seats working just as hard to get you to your destination safely and as comfortably as possible.
Comments
Wow!!!! Thanks for clearing that up... Yesterday when we landed in San Diego the pilots slammed on the breaks as if we had no more runway left, even though we did. San Diego seems like a challenging airport to land at. Have you ever landed here or in SNA? I know places like ABQ AND PHX have four long runways...
USS BLOG BOY
Hello Captain-a few years ago Airliner (?) magazine did an article about SWA getting the
737-700 and had some pics of a lady who was described as one of SWA's chief pilots
at the controls. I could have sworn that the article said the planes were autopilot
equipped, but that SWA policy was manual landing except in an emergency. Do I not
remember correctly? When I was reading Captain Stark's entry a couple of months
ago about being diverted to BWI and it still being dicey there I was wondering about
that..............
Hi Jeff,
I was the one who wrote that article, and it was for Airways magazine. I think you are confused by autopilot and autoland. Autopilots have been on every major airliner since 1945, but autoland is on some widebodied aircraft and the Airbus narrowbodies. Autoland essentially flies the aircraft completely, whereas an autopilot is actually controlled by the Pilots. My article mentioned that Southwest doesn't use the autothrottle feature of the 737-700. Captain Evans can provide you with more information about that. Even without autoland, our HGS-equipped aircraft can operate as Captain Evans mentioned in the same Category IIIA conditions as an autloand aircraft, the difference is that our Pilots fly the aircraft instead of the computer. For more information on HGS, please see this post by Captain Stark.
Brian
Jeff,
I think you are confusing "autoland" with "autopilot." Automatic Pilot controls such thingss as heading, altitude, and speed.
Autoland does what it says. Lands the plane without input from the pilots. Pretty much all commercial aircrafts have autopilot installed. The pilots might keep the autopilot on until the last 50 feet or so when they reach the decision height, which is the point where if the pilot has the runway surface/lights in sight, he can continue and land. If he does not have them in sight, he must preform a go-around.
Thanks-I meant to say autoland-having been on half a dozen flights autolanding
iin CLT fog (I asked the flight deck crew to be certain each time) I really do know
the difference. But to prove I'm not the brightest bulb on the tree: as a student
pilot I wandered too far away one time and had to land in very dark twilight-couldn't
remember how to turn on instrument lights in a 150. So I was striking matches-later
found out 150's (at least at that time) had a low illum orange overhead light. So, yeah
I've done many dumb things and sorry for the misstatement above
I know this has nothing to do with this blog, but I couldn't find any info in your search feature. Anyways, is Southwest still opening their homebase in Las Vegas in October 2007?
Hi Brian,
This is one of the advantages of Head Up Dispalys (HUD's).
They are wonderful tools for helping the pilots manage their workload, and in particular the transition from heads down (looking at the instruments) to heads up (looking outside). It also provides the pilots with spatial awareness, with cues on where they should expect to see the runway for example.
Any Cat III approach (wether hand flown or performed with Autoland) requires a large amount of skill and training on behalf of fflight crew, they definitely earn their money to get us up and back down, safely, comfortably, and on time!
Any flight is a collective team effort, and Southwest has got the best in it's industry!
:o)
Hi Anna,
yes the Las Vegas Crew Base should open on schedule.
Blog Boy
lighting matches in a 150?
wow
I'm impressed!
lol
whenever I'm night flying, I carry phosphorous sticks of the kind that don't generate any heat - you crack them and shak 'em and they glow bright green for 12 hours.
(www.cyalume.com - my flying club buys a box of about 1000 for night flying every year)
great for checking fuel levels as well when refueling.
That didn't stop me from forgetting the aircraft log book on top of a fuel pump once, realised at destination, re-filed a flight plan and went back to get it before anybody noticed. Had the ATC boys perplexed...
:o(
I fly a lot. A LOT! More than many ATP pilots. The thing that I have noticed is that SWA pilots are the best at maneuvering through bad weather. Living in Chicago, I have had a lot of bad-weather approaches into tiny Midway and the men and women in the front seats pull off some remarkable landings. I'd rather fly the middle seat on Southwest than first class on United!
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