On Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:27:00 -0600, DannyDot
wrote:

a wrote:
On Mar 4, 2:21 pm, Mxsmanic wrote:
Musicrab writes:

snip

I don't think (and could be wrong) that a coupled/automated approach
does in fact need a conventional altimeter.

In my F-4 it did not. But that was back in the mid 80s with an analog
autopilot.

Also, can some explain what retard is?

They must have been doing an autoland if the radio altimeter was
involved. It feeds the autopilots AGL for calculating when to reduce
thrust and begin the flare. Otherwise it would have just been
following the NAV inputs for GS and LOC down to whenever the airline
SOP dictated disconnection of AP/AT for a hand-flown landing.

IIUC, "retard" is a callout in an Airbus for idle thrust. Never flown
one so no idea.