Visual landing system used on US Navy aircraft carriers
An optical landing system (OLS) (nicknamed "meatball" or simply "ball") is used to give glidepath information to pilots in the terminal phase of landing on an aircraft carrier.[1]
From the beginning of aircraft landing on ships in the 1920s to the introduction of OLSs, pilots relied solely on their visual perception of the landing area and the aid of the Landing Signal Officer (LSO in the U.S. Navy, or "batsman" in the Commonwealth navies). LSOs used coloured flags, cloth paddles and lighted wands. The OLS was developed after World War II by the British and was deployed on U.S. Navy carriers from 1955. In its developed form, the OLS consists of a horizontal row of green lights, used as a reference, and a column of vertical lights. The vertical lights signal whether the aircraft is too high, too low, or at the correct altitude as the pilot descends the glide slope towards the carrier's deck. Other lights give various commands and can be used to require the pilot to abort the landing and "go around." The OLS remains under control of the LSO, who can also communicate with the pilot via radio.
^Aircraft Launch and Recovery Operations Manual[permanent dead link]
and 23 Related for: Optical landing system information
Fresnel lenses in their opticallandingsystems. The "meatball" light aids the pilot in maintaining proper glide slope for the landing. In the center are amber...
aboard ship using hand-operated signals. Since the introduction of opticallandingsystems in the 1950s, LSOs assist pilots by giving information via radio...
glideslope is maintained using an opticallandingsystem ("meatball"), either the Fresnel lens opticallandingsystem (FLOLS), improved FLOLS, or a manually...
introduced in the 1940s. The first of the OpticalLandingSystems was another British innovation, the Mirror Landing Aid invented by Lieutenant Commander H...
called the rabbit or the running rabbit. Instrument landingsystem (ILS) Opticallandingsystem (OLS) Pilot-controlled lighting (PCL) Precision approach...
power. Opticallandingsystems were developed to facilitate the very precise landing angles required by jet aircraft, which have a faster landing speed...
meters beyond the landing threshold of the runway. A typical engineering design specification for a PAPI light unit is shown below: Optical construction:...
navigation lights Opticallandingsystem Precision approach path indicator Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aircraft landing lights. Federal Aviation...
more groups primarily separated in bearing. Ball Aircraft carrier opticallandingsystem. Bandit An aircraft identified as enemy, in accordance with theater...
upgrading the aircraft catapult to be steam-powered, and installing an opticallandingsystem: Australian Majestic-class carrier HMAS Melbourne was the third...
equipped with a Fresnel lens opticallandingsystem (FLOLS) at each approach end, as well as lit aircraft carrier flight deck landing areas at both ends, so...
Runway edge lights (HIRL, MIRL, LIRL) Approach lighting system (ALS) Opticallandingsystem Skybrary "Annex 14 to the Convention on International Civil...
International maritime signal flags Railway signalling Aircraft marshalling Opticallandingsystem Semaphore line Signal lamp Substitute flag Traffic guard "semaphore...
angled flight deck, steam catapults, and opticallandingsystem. The angled flight deck increased the carrier's landing area without limiting space for aircraft...
on optical networking systems using optical fiber, optical amplifiers, lasers, switches, routers, and other related technologies. Free-space optical communication...
first OpticalLandingSystem, the Mirror Landing Aid was invented by Lieutenant Commander H. C. N. Goodhart RN. The first trials of a mirror landing sight...
constructed with an angled flight deck, steam catapult, and an opticallandingsystem, as opposed to having them installed after launching. The original...
Hepatitis D genome in 1986: Sir Michael Houghton Angled Flight Deck, OpticalLandingSystem and Steam catapult for Aircraft Carriers-Dennis Cambell CB DSC,...
change in technology, the introduction of an opticallandingsystem, meant a change in role to a Landing Signal Officers Training Squadron, eventually...
(LSO) who critiques and grades their performance. A Fresnel Lens OpticalLandingSystem (known as the Meatball, or ball) on the runway verge, as fitted...