Landing bay (RDM)

The landing bay is where Vipers and Raptors come in to land. It is situated above the Hangar Deck and open to space only when the flight pods are extended. Normal landing procedure aboard the Galactica is a complete hands-on approach from the stern. The ship will then land on a platform and engage its magnetic clamps. The platform then descends into the Hangar Deck.

In the event of a combat situation, a combat landing has to be performed. With no time to make an exact and clean landing, pilots will have to allow their undercarriages to skid across the bay until their ship has come to a complete halt. This is very structurally dangerous, as repeated combat landings will lead to divets in the floor of the landing bay which need to be pounded out.

So far, only the port landing bay can be used as the starboard landing bay was converted into a gift shop that was made in anticipation of the Galactica's becoming a museum. Recently, the starboard landing bay was violently depressurized when a Cylon Heavy Raider with a boarding party of Cylon Centurions crash-landed there (Scattered).