In terms of aircraft equipment, approach minimums, procedural differences, and anything else relevant, how do the 3 types of a Cat III ILS differ from one another?
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$\begingroup$ You may narrow your question as a simple search on wikipedia gives lots of information and great references to answer a significant part of your question. $\endgroup$ – Manu H Jul 10 '15 at 14:06
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ICAO and FAA CAT III definitions
A CAT III operation is a precision approach at lower than CAT II minima. Sub-categories are listed below.
A category III A approach is a precision instrument approach and landing with no decision height or a decision height lower than 100ft (30m) and a runway visual range not less than 700ft (200m).
A category III B approach is a precision approach and landing with no decision height or a decision height lower than 50ft (15m) and a runway visual range less than 700ft (200m), but not less than 150ft (50m).
A category III C approach is a precision approach and landing with no decision height and no runway visual range limitation.
*I've omitted the JAA definitions.
Source Airbus Flight Operations Support documentation.
FAA Reference Material
The below links are to comprehensive FAA publications covering the areas as titled.
Thanks @Sports Racer for the comment with links to these documents.
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1$\begingroup$ Also see FAA AC120-29 for CAT I/II faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC120-29A.pdf and FAA AC120-28 for CAT III faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/120.28C.pdf $\endgroup$ – Sports Racer Sep 29 '15 at 21:12
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$\begingroup$ It might not hurt to move them into your answer. Sometimes things in comments get lost. $\endgroup$ – Sports Racer Sep 30 '15 at 13:14
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$\begingroup$ It may be worth to note than in Europe CATIIIb is 75m-200m RVR, and DH <100ft. CATIIIa is the same as FAA in Europe. EU-OPS-1 page 81, Aerodrome operating minima, (g) Precision approach — Category III operations $\endgroup$ – yankee Apr 4 '17 at 7:41
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- Cat III A 600 feet (180 meters) Runway Visible Range (RVR)
- CAT III B 150 feet (46 meters) RVR
- CAT III C zero visibility
No decision height in any CAT III approach (CAT II is 100' and CAT I is 200')
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$\begingroup$ A Cat IIIA approach can have a 50' DH for operators that need one. Not sure how wide or narrow that set of operators is, though. $\endgroup$ – Ralph J May 9 '15 at 17:15
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2$\begingroup$ Also please note that specifications differ here between FAA and ICAO. These figures are FAA-figures (which may very will be what the OP wanted) $\endgroup$ – Waked May 11 '15 at 8:18
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$\begingroup$ Quite. So I don't appreciate the negative vote! $\endgroup$ – nimbusgb May 12 '15 at 8:23
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$\begingroup$ You may consider editing the answer to a more readable format. $\endgroup$ – kevin Jul 23 '15 at 6:29
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$\begingroup$ There's also the Alert Height, Read more in FAA AC120-28. faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/120.28C.pdf $\endgroup$ – Sports Racer Sep 29 '15 at 21:08
