AUTOLAND, NON-ILS AND VISUAL APPROACHES
An autopilot following the localizer and glideslope is flying a coupled ILS approach. An autoland adds requirements for automatically completing the landing. Check aircraft capability and system status, runway and ILS suitability, the applicable configuration and limits, and the capability actually annunciated. Prepare the expected mode sequence and the takeover or go-around plan before attempting the exercise. Watching an autopilot descend towards the runway does not establish all of those conditions. Learn to recognise the capability and transitions that belong to the planned operation, so that the aircraft's indications support the kind of landing we are asking it to perform. [13, PDF pp. 177-183]
Other approaches use other guidance. A non-ILS procedure may call for managed final guidance or a selected flight-path-angle method, according to the procedure and equipment. Flight-path angle, FPA, describes an angle of climb or descent. As groundspeed changes, maintaining that angle requires a different vertical-speed rate. A visual approach also needs a planned route to the runway, sensible configuration and a landing strategy. Use the charted references, minima and intended modes for the method being flown. The familiar APPR button and an ILS technique should not become a substitute for learning what the different approach actually requires. Prepare its transitions before reaching them. [13, PDF pp. 163-168] [13, PDF pp. 173-176]
A familiar destination is a useful place to compare methods. After becoming comfortable with the Heathrow ILS exercise, choose one different approach exercise and read its relevant preparation first. Brief what will change in the route, guidance, monitoring and decision points, then compare the result afterwards. Keeping the airport familiar leaves more attention for the new task. If the exercise becomes confusing, return to a known aircraft state and work through the part that caused the difficulty. We are building a collection of approaches we can explain and monitor, with each new method connected to its own preparation and expected indications.