Originally Posted by
aluminumdriver
Fresh answered this pretty good. There are a lot of things that have to be working for us to do autolands. The airport has to have its ILS system working, and runway lights working correctly. The plane has to have all it's required equipment working and be current in autolands, and then the pilots have to be current and qualified as well.
From what I've heard from other airline pilots, the airplane has to be configured (ie, airspeed, flaps/slats, landing gear, autopilots engaged, ILS's tuned in, etc.) further out than a visual approach. This slows down the rate at which an airport can accept incoming aircraft. As such, you will only get a CAT III approach if it requires it or the airport and ATC are really quiet and the pilots request it for certification purposes. This happens on a regular basis typically on the late arriving flights. Autolandings can also impact outgoing flights. The outbound a/c typically hold short of the runway in ILS Critical Areas and their presence can affect the glide slope (vertical guidance part of the ILS). In visual conditions, not a factor for landing a/c but for autolands, the tower needs to have the holding a/c outside of this critical area. BTW, the Glide slope is typically located by the runway aiming point (the two big solid white markings on the runway) and about 200 feet off the centerline.