Landing Signal Officer

An external view of the LSO station (Final Cut).

The Landing Signal Officer (LSO) is the officer who is responsible for all flight operations on the flight pods of battlestars and other military vessels. This includes the landing of all vessels, from Vipers and Raptors to small liners such as Colonial One, as well as the operation of the launch tubes (Miniseries, "Final Cut", "Flight of the Phoenix").

Up until his relief from duty and confinement to quarters for waging a private bomb campaign against Baltar's defense counsels (first Alan Hughes, then Romo Lampkin, in "The Son also Rises"), Captain Aaron Kelly was Galactica LSO. Kelly's replacement in the position has not yet been featured.

Interior view of the port LSO station (Final Cut).

Close-up of the glideslope indicator of the LSO station.

Notes

• Judging from the various duties carried out by Captain Kelly as LSO, the job in the Colonial Fleet is much more expansive than the title implies. In contemporary U.S. naval aviation, he would be a combined LSO, "shooter" (catapult officer) and "Air Boss" (flight deck operations manager).[1]

See Also

• Hands-on approach, for details on the landing procedure
• List of terms in the Re-imagined Series

Re-imagined Series definition: officer responsible for flight operations of either a battlestar or battlestar group

Re-imagined Series definition: officer responsible for flight operations of either a battlestar or battlestar group

Re-imagined Series definition: slang for launch officer, responsible for deployment of craft from a battlestar (TRS: "Miniseries, Night 1")