How do pilots land at airports when the fog is very dense?

Question

I hope the answer is better than “winging it.”

In: 11

Answer 1

This doesn’t directly apply but there is a line from “The Hunt For Red October” where the navigator says something like “give me a map and a stopwatch and I can fly the alps blindfolded.” Before GPS and radio beacons and such pilots used to (and probably still can) fly in zero visibility as long as they have a map, a compass, an altimeter, and they know where they started. Time/speed/distance calculations can be a pain but they do work.

I seem to remember in the early days of flight when everyone was trying new shit, somebody made a plane with no windows and flew from one airport to another, include taking off and landing, using a stopwatch and charts