VIDEO: BA Pilots Land in Insane Fog

Yes, a pilot who is on his game at the moment can land "smoother" than an autoland can, but smoothness is actually not a criterea that the manufacturer of airplanes has for a successful landing. It's of upmost importance for the plane to be landed in the first 1500' of the runway at or near the appropriate speed to allow for plenty of room to slow down and stop. History is replete with examples where the pilot in the name of a "smooth" landing has floated much too far down the runway and sometimes departed the paved surface. Obviously, both the plane and pilot shoot to flare right before touchdown which arrests the rate of descent of the airplane, but that can be a tricky thing to do if you are not at the correct airspeed or are making other corrections for landing attitude simultaneously. Auto land does a great job of keeping the plane on speed and on landing profile putting the plane on the desired touchdown location. It flares just enough to slow the descent rate but does not finesse the actual touchdown. So you get a rather average, but very consistent landing. Fog is interesting in that you have few visual cues, but generally have still air making the landing weather conditions rather benign. I'd much rather have a morning of thick fog than some very gusty winds/rain with major crosswind and hydroplaning consequences to deal with.

I know pilots are trained and conditioned to trust the aircraft and it's systems, but better them than me! I have an autopilot on my car, but still don't trust it THIS much. Ironically, I have used it in a similar situation where I was having trouble seeing but the car's radar sensors had no issues with the fog, but I was on the edge of my seat the whole time while it was running.

I've been on several flights where the plane landed executed a full Cat III landing (full auto-land), mostly at LHR and CDG because of fog, but I remember once on a BA flight the pilot announced they would be testing the auto-land. Each time I remember a touch-down that was very smooth, more so than normal I'd say. But I've heard from pilots that full-autoland is actually bumpier than a manual landing. Any pilots out there care to comment? (And yes, high-tech is wonderful and all, but it's also really good to know there are a couple of folks up front who know exactly what to do in case things go wheels up).

No chicken with the fog required, that's a full autoland. Pilots are just along for the ride, and to drive it in after touching down.

sure hoping the flight crews visual was slightly better than the person running the camera in the junmpseat. Id rather divert than have my pilot play a game of chicken with the fog.