What dose it mean when a pilot requests a auto land does that use the ils system is there a difference. I heard a a/c request it at bos and it was granted. this was as the snow is starting to pile up now
I would suspect it is the Category III C ILS approach for runway 4 right (EDIT).
Yes, an aircraft's autoland uses the ILS but the aircraft and aircrew have to be certified above other approach requirements to fly this type of approach. There are redundant autopilots (IIRC, there are three APs, two of which out-vote the third in the event of a discrepancy) that actually fly the approach, combined with multiple localizer/glideslope receivers and radar altimeters to continually feed height above ground to the APs.
See here for this approach:
http://myairplane.com/databases/approach/pdfs/00058I4RC3.PDF
