Flight pod: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 04:56, 21 February 2024

The flight pods are the most prominent feature of Colonial battlestars. They house the main landing bays, hangar bays, and launch tubes used to launch, recover, and maintain Vipers, Raptors, and atmospheric shuttles.

Design[edit]

The design of ship's pods varies by class, but the overall structures are the same. They feature an upper level landing strip, a bottom level hangar, and launch tubes enclosed in a pod-like structure.

Landing Deck[edit]

Main article: Landing bay (RDM)

The landing deck is the main recovery spot for all inbound vehicles, including Vipers, Raptors, shuttles, and depending on pod size, civilian transports as large as Eversun starliners. The landing bay is also the main launching location of auxiliary craft that are too large or bulky to launch from the tubes below. Landing decks have all the commodities needed to maintain aircraft operations, such as fuel lines, electrical umbilicals, pressurized airlocks, and maintenance vehicles. The landing decks are overseen by the ship's designated landing signal officer.

Generally, the landing bays are never pressurized, and do not feature artificial gravity. Instead, they rely on magnetism to bound vessels and people to the deck. This has allowed newer ships, such as the Mercury class, to include multiple landing bays that are "upside down," compared to the rest of the ship (TRS: "Pegasus," "The Captain's Hand," "Razor"). Because the magnetism does not grab hold of landing ships as quickly as artificial gravity, landing Vipers (especially during combat landings) will bounce before finally setting down and coming to a stop. This puts dents into the deck, which need to be repaired periodically ^(TRS: "33").

On smaller support ships, such as the Valkyrie-type and Berzerk-type cruisers, the landing bays are equipped the same, but cannot support larger transports.

Hangar Deck And Launch Tubes[edit]

Main article: Hangar deck

Main article: Launch tube (TRS)

Situated directly below the landing bay and connected via a series of specialized air tight elevators, the hangar deck is the main staging area where vessels are stored, maintained, and readied for launch.

Vipers and Raptors are kept along the back wall in a series of alcoves where they are connected to electrical umbilicals, diagnostic computers, and fuel lines. Mechanics and deckhands are able to repair and refit each plane before their next operation. Behind these alcoves is a second level gangway, accessed by a steep set of stairs, where officers and crew can watch over the deck, or access the rest of the ship.

Across from the repair alcoves are the entrances to the Viper launch tubes. Vipers are moved into position by modified reach forks, and then pushed into the tubes by deckhands, where it is then prepped for launch by the launch supervisor ^{(TRS: "Final Cut")}. Generally, larger battlestars carry up to eighty launch tubes, while smaller vessels, such as the Valkyrie-type, typically carry six. Depending on crew size and available resources, not all tubes will be utilized at the same time.

Operations[edit]

Flight pod operations vary depending on the class of vessel. On some battlestars, such as the older Galactica-type, flight pods needed to be retracted into the main body of the ship before performing FTL jumps, or to move equipment from pod to pod. However, other period ships, such as the Valkyrie-type battlestars, and Defender-type cruisers, or even the newer Mercury class battlestars, can not perform this operation, as their pods are permanently fixed ^{(TRS: "Miniseries", "Pegasus", "Razor", "Someone To Watch Over Me", "Daybreak, Part II")}.

Gallery[edit]

The flight pod (upper left) on a Berzerk-type cruiser
A Defender-type cruiser (left center) displaying its ventral flight pod

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Also known simply as "pods", the '''flight pods''' contain the [[Landing bay|landing bays]] within the top and the [[Hangar Deck|hangar deck]] below, along with the [[Launch tubes (RDM)|launch tubes]] within the bottom half, adjacent to the hangar deck. Normally these two pods are extended so that the landing bays are open to space, but in order to perform an [[FTL]] jump the pods must be retracted on a [[Galactica type battlestar|battlestar class]] such as ''Galactica's''.
+[[Image:Pegasus Port Flight Pods.png|thumb|right|Port flight pods on the ''Mercury'' class battlestar, ''[[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]'']]
+The '''flight pods''' are the most prominent feature of Colonial battlestars. They house the main [[landing bay]]s, [[hangar bay]]s, and [[launch tube]]s used to launch, recover, and maintain {{RDM|Viper}}s, [[Raptor]]s, and [[Atmospheric shuttle|atmospheric shuttles]].
-The forward end of the landing bay also serves as a launch area for Raptors and shuttles. The landing bay is large enough to accept a variety of other Colonial vessels, at least as large as "heavy" passenger ships such as ''[[Colonial Heavy 798]]'' ([[Miniseries]]). Docking collars are located throughout the upper sections of the landing bay in order to provide a pressurized connection between a docked vessel and the battlestar.<ref name="docking">''Colonial Heavy 798'' is seen landing within ''Galactica's'' flight pod in the [[Miniseries]], where a docking ring is shown approaching the ship. As it left Caprica, a similar docking ring is shown detaching from ''798'' as the ship lifts off. This has a logical counterpart to the JetWay retractable tunnels at airports on the real-world Earth, and would be reasonable given that civilian passengers would expect to walk to and from the ship without spacesuits or in hazardous conditions.</ref> The flight pods also have docking ports to dock with larger ships or stations.
+==Design==
+The design of ship's pods varies by class, but the overall structures are the same. They feature an upper level landing strip, a bottom level hangar, and launch tubes enclosed in a pod-like structure.
-Compartments within a flight pod can be sealed off [[frame]] by frame and vented to space to kill fires and prevent possible complete decompression and structural buckling. This occurred to the port flight pod after it was struck with a Cylon kiloton nuclear missile and was subjected to internal fires that threatened to ignite the ship fuel lines and destroy the ship ([[Miniseries]]). The use of the busy port hangar deck as a morgue would be rather morbid, so Commander Adama orders [[Galen Tyrol]] to set up a temporary morgue be in "hangar bay B" after the loss of 85 crewmembers from the strike ([[Miniseries]]). Since the port hangar deck (bay) is very busy with retrieving Vipers, and we see Captain [[Aaron Kelly|Kelly]] with the bodies in what
+===Landing Deck===
-appears otherwise as an empty hangar deck, it is likely the unused hangar deck of the starboard flight pod.
+{{mainarticle|Landing bay (RDM)}}
+[[Image:Landing Bay.png|thumb|right|The port landing bay on ''Galactica''-type battlestar, ''{{RDM|Galactica}}'']]
+The landing deck is the main recovery spot for all inbound vehicles, including Vipers, Raptors, shuttles, and depending on pod size, civilian transports as large as [[Eversun]] starliners. The landing bay is also the main launching location of auxiliary craft that are too large or bulky to launch from the tubes below. Landing decks have all the commodities needed to maintain aircraft operations, such as fuel lines, electrical umbilicals, pressurized airlocks, and [[Landram (TRS)|maintenance vehicles]]. The landing decks are overseen by the ship's designated [[LSO|landing signal officer]].
+[[Image:Pegasus Landing Bay II.png|thumb|left|A Raptor flies above landing bay 3 on ''[[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]'']]
+Generally, the landing bays are never pressurized, and do not feature artificial gravity. Instead, they rely on magnetism to bound vessels and people to the deck. This has allowed newer ships, such as the [[Mercury class|''Mercury'' class]], to include multiple landing bays that are "upside down," compared to the rest of the ship ([[TRS]]: "[[Pegasus]]," "[[The Captain's Hand]]," "[[Razor]]"). Because the magnetism does not grab hold of landing ships as quickly as artificial gravity, landing Vipers (especially during [[Combat landing|combat landings]]) will bounce before finally setting down and coming to a stop. This puts dents into the deck, which need to be repaired periodically {{TRS|33}}.
-== ''Galactica'' ==
+On smaller support ships, such as the [[Valkyrie type battlestar|''Valkyrie''-type]] and [[Berzerk type cruiser|''Berzerk''-type]] cruisers, the landing bays are equipped the same, but cannot support larger transports.
-[[Image:Hanger.JPG|right|thumb|200px|''Galactica's'' port flight pod.]]
-''[[Galactica]]'', as with other battlestars, has two flight pods on the port and starboard of the ship.
+{{clear}}
-The port flight pod was the only flight pod on ''Galactica'' currently in use at the time of the [[Cylon Attack]]. The starboard flight pod's landing bay was converted into a [[Galactica Museum|pressurized museum]] of artifacts of the first [[Cylon War]], including with a gift shop in the former launch bay. Crewman [[Socinus]] complains of the problems in keeping the landing bay's external windows sealed from leaks at the start of the [[Miniseries]].
+===Hangar Deck And Launch Tubes===
+{{mainarticle|Hangar deck}}
+{{mainarticle|Launch tube (TRS)}}
+[[Image:Pegasus Hangar Deck.png|thumb|right|The hangar deck on ''Pegasus'']]
+Situated directly below the landing bay and connected via a series of specialized air tight elevators, the hangar deck is the main staging area where vessels are stored, maintained, and readied for launch.
-The starboard landing bay remains closed off from space until a Cylon [[Heavy Raider]] later crashes through one of the windows, depressurizing the landing bay ([[Scattered]]).  After the Battle of New Caprica, the starboard flight pod appears to have been returned to partial working order as Lee Adama announces that his Raptor approaches the starboard landing bay in "[[A Measure of Salvation]]". However the forward window is still in place and thus Raptors could only land from the aft.
+Vipers and Raptors are kept along the back wall in a series of alcoves where they are connected to electrical umbilicals, diagnostic computers, and fuel lines. Mechanics and deckhands are able to repair and refit each plane before their next operation. Behind these alcoves is a second level gangway, accessed by a steep set of stairs, where officers and crew can watch over the deck, or access the rest of the ship.
-Since the escape from New Caprica, ''Galactica'''s flight pods have been put to use increasingly in other roles than just housing Vipers and Raptors.  The hangar deck is used as the site of a [[Camp Oil Slick|refugee camp]] ([[Torn]]), as the scene of a sanctioned boxing tournament known as "the dance" ([[Unfinished Business]]), as a temporary shelter for the civilian population of the Fleet while navigating a radiation-dense star cluster ([[The Passage]]) and a full-time [[Joe's bar|bar]] has been set up on an unused stretch or the hangar deck ([[Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]). This most likely all happened in the relatively unused starboard flight pod.
-== ''Pegasus'' ==
-[[Image:Pegasusflightpod.jpg|thumb|left|''Pegasus's'' flight pod right before colliding with a basestar.]]
-The [[Mercury class battlestar|Mercury class battlestar]] ''[[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]'' also has flight pods, but they differ greatly from ''Galactica's'' in that these larger pods are fixed and not retracted before a jump, with each pod transversely split into two landing bays to allow four distinct landing areas for fighters. Moreover the lower landing bay is placed upside down in relation to the upper bay, with ships also landing upside down. Since ''Galactica'''s landing bays don't seem to use artificial gravity, this could also be the case with ''Pegasus''. The internal arrangement of the hangar decks is unknown, but some mechanism could exist to flip Vipers during transport to the internal hangars.
-During the [[Battle of New Caprica]], the abandoned and unmanned ''Pegasus'' collides with and destroys one of four basestars that had attacked ''Galactica'' earlier (''Pegasus'''s forward batteries damaged or destroyed three of these basestars before). One of its flight pods breaks off the destroyed battlestar and tumbles away to collide with and destroy yet another basestar ([[Exodus, Part II]]).
-<div style="clear: both;"></div>
-== See Also ==
-* [[landing bay]]
-* [[launch tubes (RDM)|launch tubes]]
-* [[hangar deck]]
-== References ==
-<div style="font-size:85%"><references/></div>
+Across from the repair alcoves are the entrances to the Viper launch tubes. Vipers are moved into position by modified reach forks, and then pushed into the tubes by deckhands, where it is then prepped for launch by the launch supervisor {{TRS|Final Cut}}. Generally, larger battlestars carry up to eighty launch tubes, while smaller vessels, such as the ''Valkyrie''-type, typically carry six. Depending on crew size and available resources, not all tubes will be utilized at the same time.
+{{clear}}
+==Operations==
+[[Image:Galactica - flight pods retracted.jpg|thumb|right|A ''Galactica''-type battlestar with retracted flight pods]]
+Flight pod operations vary depending on the class of vessel. On some battlestars, such as the older [[Galactica type battlestar|''Galactica''-type]], flight pods needed to be retracted into the main body of the ship before performing [[FTL]] jumps, or to move equipment from pod to pod. However, other period ships, such as the ''Valkyrie''-type battlestars, and [[Wedge-shaped vessel|''Defender''-type]] cruisers, or even the newer ''Mercury'' class battlestars, can not perform this operation, as their pods are permanently fixed {{TRS|Miniseries|Pegasus|Razor|Someone To Watch Over Me|Daybreak, Part II}}.
+{{clear}}
+==Gallery==
+<gallery perrow=5>
+Image:Berzerk Flight Pod.png|The flight pod (upper left) on a ''Berzerk''-type cruiser
+Image:Defender Flight Pod.png|A ''Defender''-type cruiser (left center) displaying its ventral flight pod
+</gallery>
 [[Category:A to Z]]
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 [[Category:Terminology (RDM)]]
 [[Category:RDM]]
+[[de:Flugdeck]]