Landing Signal Officer

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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.

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]
• A slogan on a duty roster in the pilots' ready room reads "Dominate the ball - Be the ball - There is no life without the LSO"^[2] (Six of One)

Additional Images

The LSO station seen from the outside in the landing bay.

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

See Also

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

References