Hands-on approach: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 18:40, 11 February 2024

A hands-on approach refers to landing aboard a battlestar under the pilot's full manual control, i.e. all flight control inputs come from the pilot, not from any automated system. This is a very difficult skill, requiring much practice to master.

There are two kinds of hands-on approaches: the condition three-mode landing, as performed by Lee Adama when first arriving on Galactica ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}; and the high-speed combat landing.

At the time of the surprise Cylon Attack, complacency allows battlestars to routinely use computerized auto-landing systems to network with a ship's controls and guide it into the flightpods. On Galactica, William Adama's orders make hands-on approach the only accepted landing procedure. The uniqueness of this policy is evident from Lee "Apollo" Adama's confusion when he is instructed to land his Viper Mk VII manually ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}.

Commander Adama has banned the use of auto-landing systems aboard Galactica because it would expose the computers to vulnerabilities exploited by the Cylons in the first war (such as viruses), part of his no-networked-computers policy to protect against future Cylon attacks.

Captain Lee Adama completes a hands-on approach in his Viper Mk. VII ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}.

A typical wireless exchange for a hands-on approach between Landing Signal Officer and pilot might go like this:

LSO: "Viper seven niner one / Galactica, you are cleared for approach ... Speed one seven five, port bay, hands-on approach, checkers green, call the ball^[1]."

Pilot: "Copy. I have the ball."

References[edit]

↑ The "ball" refers to the arrangement of crossed navigational lights at the lip of the landing bay, and/or the visual cue on a cockpit display (as seen in Kat's Viper in "Act of Contrition"). The pilot would use this to adjust his/her glideslope for a proper approach into the flight pod. The phrase "I have the ball" informs the LSO that the pilot has acquired this visual cue and is beginning the final approach.

[1] The "ball" refers to the arrangement of crossed navigational lights at the lip of the landing bay, and/or the visual cue on a cockpit display (as seen in Kat's Viper in "Act of Contrition"). The pilot would use this to adjust his/her glideslope for a proper approach into the flight pod. The phrase "I have the ball" informs the LSO that the pilot has acquired this visual cue and is beginning the final approach.

[1]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[Image:Viperapproach 104 1080i.jpg|thumb|200px|The ''ball'' shown in the -+- configuration ([[Final Cut]]).]]
+[[Image:Viperapproach 104 1080i.jpg|thumb|200px|The ''ball'' shown in the -+- configuration {{TRS|Act of Contrition}}.]]
-Since landing on a [[Battlestar (RDM)|battlestar]] is a very difficult feat requiring much practice, it seems that almost all battlestars opted to make landings easier through a series of computers that form an auto-landing system. Before the surprise [[Cylon Attack]], the two choices to land on a typical battlestar were by automatic landing or a ''hands-on approach'', meaning a manually controlled landing.
+A '''hands-on approach''' refers to landing aboard a [[Battlestar (RDM)|battlestar]] under the pilot's full manual control, i.e. all flight control inputs come from the pilot, not from any automated system.  This is a very difficult skill, requiring much practice to master.
-[[Image:Handsonapproach.jpg|thumb|200px|Captain [[Lee Adama]] completes a hands-on approach in his [[Viper (RDM)|Viper]] Mk. VII ([[Miniseries]]).]]
+There are two kinds of hands-on approaches: the [[Action Stations|condition three]]-mode landing, as performed by Lee Adama when first arriving on ''Galactica'' {{TRS|Miniseries}}; and the high-speed [[combat landing]].
-On ''[[Galactica]]'', a hands-on landing is the only accepted landing procedure, as per [[William Adama]]'s orders. The policy confuses [[Lee Adama]] when he is instructed to land his [[Viper (RDM)|Viper]] Mk. VII manually ([[Miniseries]]).
-There are two kinds of hands-on approaches: the [[Action Stations|condition three]]-mode landing preformed by Lee Adama when first arriving on ''Galactica'' ([[Miniseries]]), or a high-speed [[Combat landing|combat landing]] into the [[flight pod]].
+At the time of the surprise [[Cylon Attack]], complacency allows battlestars to routinely use computerized auto-landing systems to network with a ship's controls and guide it into the flightpods.  On ''{{RDM|Galactica}}'', [[William Adama]]'s orders make hands-on approach the only accepted landing procedure.  The uniqueness of this policy is evident from {{callsign|Apollo}}'s confusion when he is instructed to land his [[Viper (RDM)|Viper]] Mk VII manually {{TRS|Miniseries}}.
+Commander Adama has banned the use of auto-landing systems aboard ''Galactica'' because it would expose the computers to vulnerabilities exploited by the Cylons in the first war (such as [[Cylon computer virus|viruses]]), part of his no-networked-computers policy to protect against future [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]] attacks.
-Commander Adama has banned the use of auto-landing systems aboard ''Galactica'', probably because it would involve the networking of computers that would send data to a ship's autopilot and guide it in for an automatic landing. Commander Adama had maintained (or renewed) the policy of non-networked computers on ''Galactica'' in the event of a new Cylon attack. Such automatic systems could be easily infiltrated by Cylon [[Cylon computer virus|viruses]] (a tactic used in the first [[Cylon War]]).
+[[Image:Handsonapproach.jpg|thumb|200px|Captain [[Lee Adama]] completes a hands-on approach in his [[Viper (RDM)|Viper]] Mk. VII {{TRS|Miniseries}}.]]
-A typical [[wireless]] conversation for a hands-on approach between the [[LSO|Landing Signal Officer]] and a pilot named "DeadMeat" might go like this:
+A typical [[wireless]] exchange for a hands-on approach between [[LSO|Landing Signal Officer]] and pilot might go like this:
-:'''LSO:''' "Green light for hands-on approach. DeadMeat, call the ball<ref>"The ball" might refer to a series of lights extending from the back of the [[Landing bay|landing bay]] to the front, or a visual cue on a cockpit display (as seen in [[Louanne Katraine|Kat's]] Viper in [[Act of Contrition]]). The pilot would use this to adjust his/her glideslope for a proper approach into the flight pod. The phrase "I have the ball" informs the LSO that the pilot has acquired this visual cue and is beginning the final approach.  This is in keeping with Ron Moore's parallels with real-world naval terminology; an actual "ball" is a fresnel-lensed lamp that a pilot would see as a floating light against a reference line (called a "datum"), which would show the pilot if he/she was over or under the proper glideslope path.</ref>."
+:'''LSO:''' "[[Viper 791|Viper seven niner one]] / ''Galactica'', you are cleared for approach ... Speed one seven five, port bay, hands-on approach, checkers green, call the ball<ref>The "ball" refers to the arrangement of crossed navigational lights at the lip of the [[landing bay]], and/or the visual cue on a cockpit display (as seen in [[Louanne Katraine|Kat's]] Viper in "[[Act of Contrition]]"). The pilot would use this to adjust his/her glideslope for a proper approach into the flight pod. The phrase "I have the ball" informs the LSO that the pilot has acquired this visual cue and is beginning the final approach.</ref>."
-:'''DeadMeat:''' "Copy. I have the ball."
+:'''Pilot:''' "Copy. I have the ball."
+{{clear}}
-Captain [[Aaron Kelly]] is ''Galactica'''s LSO and in charge of all flight operations on the ship.
+== References ==
+{{reflist}}
 [[Category:A to Z]]
-[[Category:RDM]]
 [[Category:Technology]]
 [[Category:Terminology]]
+[[Category:RDM]]
+[[Category:TRS]]
+[[fr:Approche manuelle]]