[FONT="]One of my instructors for my IR is a 777 captain. He flies ORD to China, Hawaii and London in it. I Xed out the name of his employer to protect the innocent. Here is what he said about the 20/20 show last night:
"The show is misleading. The fact is that about 99% of our landings are made using the electronic backup of an ILS, VNAV, or some other type of guidance (GPS, LOC, LDA, VOR, LOB BC, etc.) that helps the pilot align with the runway and the proper approach path. However, even though the pilot has this navigational guidance backup to refer to, the actual landing and manipulation of the flight controls on approach and landing is accomplished by the flying pilot (autopilot OFF) about 99% of the time. At XXXX Airlines, about the only time we do auto lands with the autopilot actually making the landing is when we would be required to do so, like during a very low visibility landing, or during training. In other words, almost NEVER. I, for example, have just over 8000 hours in the 777 and I've made, maybe, 10 actual automatic, autopilot-flown landings in 11 years on the jet. This is typical of all our pilots, even at the other airlines. So, don't believe what you see and hear on TV and radio. What gets pilots in trouble is when they make a landing on a runway without using any navigational backup that would confirm the alignment with the proper runway. Like a true visual approach, with NO navigational backup. We almost NEVER do that. And when pilot do, they sometimes end up in the news! Ouch!!!"
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