Thank heavens for ILS

[TonyH]

This week I flew from London Stansted to Karlsuhe-Baden, Germany on a Ryanair 737-800 for some business meetings. On approach
into Karlsruhe I had a lovely view of the Black Forest mountains with a blanket of white cloud down below in the Rhine Valley where the
airport is. Gear and flaps were down before we entered the cloud and I didn't see the ground again until we were over the runway
threshold for a landing 20 minutes ahead of schedule.

On the return flight the next morning it was foggy again at Karlsruhe, but Ryanair came in 20 minutes early and we departed 10 minutes
ahead of schedule. On appraoch into Stansted it was even foggier, gear and flaps down well before we entered the cloud and this time I
didn't see the ground again until just before touchdown, 25 minutes early. Judging by the lack of queues for passport control and
emptiness of the bagage hall not many flights were making it into Stansted that morning.

With my job I do alot of travelling and it is very rare that I find myself still looking down at cloud during the last part of the approach. On this
trip it happened on both flights. Without ILS and modern navigation technology I'd have been diverted, missed meetings and been in for a
lot of inconvenience. Hats off to Ryanair, they may be a low cost airline, but they certainly haven't skimped on equipping their aircraft with
Cat III capabilty and have an excellent reputation for punctuality.

[WBHoenig]

Same with the luvly SWA.

Oh, and the luvly ILS, also. I couldn't approach without it on FS