Planes can autoland in 75m-visibility fog, yet still need a human with glowing sticks to park
aakashgupta · x · 2026-11-07
- Airliner autoland systems are certified down to about 75 meters of visibility: the computer flies the approach, touches down, and steers along the centerline. But after landing, pilots take over because nothing on a commercial jet taxis it to the gate.
- Parking at big airports is also automated — a wall-mounted screen with a scanner tracks the plane's nose and counts down meters to the stop line. But the scanner needs 80-100 meters of visibility, and airports stay open in worse fog, so a human with signal sticks steps in. A fun case of a highly automated system failing at the simplest step.
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