Here's a better one when it comes to what is actually going on in the **** on arrival. This is a Lufthansa flight, coming into Seattle, on an Airbus A330, on autopilot, up until 9:15 in the vid. but they are manipulating the autopilot with the knobs/buttons on the glareshield, as they are being vectored into their arrival sequence.

If any of you guys speak German, you will get a chuckle out of their comments about the female controller's voice! "Smooth".

You will hear ATC giving them lower altitudes, headings, slow down, go down, turn around, etc. all the way in. They even had to do one turn in a holding pattern (see red flight path). At 9:15 the Capt. turns off the Autopilot to hand fly the last 2 minutes to the (smooth) landing.

This is an Airbus A330, but it works pretty much the same on a Boeing, except, the Boeings use a yoke (steering wheel) infront of the pilots, where the Airbus uses a side-stick controller.

Watch the little window of the Capt., see his left hand moving all around over there as they are about to touch down? That's him 'hand flying' the airplane.

And if you listen very closely, you will hear the Airbus calling them "Retards" as they flare and touchdown!

That's another reason most of us don't like Airbus airplanes, they call you a Retard every time you land!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=xH6Jy8ucCdw