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

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

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Anonymous 0 Comments

If the fog is bad enough, they don’t. They will try to divert to other airports. I believe that in general, for daylight landing, you need a 1,000ft “ceiling” and one-mile visibility, and for night-time, 1,000ft ceiling and two-mile visibility.
Pilots have “instrument rating” which means they have to be able to fly on instruments. That lets them fly the plane in low or zero visibility, and various radio beacons and GPS systems can guide them to the airport itself. Once they’re within visible range, the runway lights and guidance from air-traffic control guide them in. In an emergency, with all these tools they can accomplish a landing with extremely low visibility.

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