Since landing on a 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.
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 Mk. VII manually (Miniseries).
There are two kinds of hands-on approaches: the condition three-mode landing preformed by Lee Adama when first arriving on Galactica (Miniseries), or a high-speed combat landing into the flight pod.
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 a Cylon virus (a tactic used in the first Cylon War).
A typical wireless conversation for a hands-on approach between the Landing Signal Officer and a pilot named "DeadMeat" might go like this:
- LSO: "Green light for hands-on approach. DeadMeat, call the ball."
- DeadMeat: "Copy. I have the ball."
"The ball" refers to a series of lights going from the back of the landing bay to the front. The pilot uses these lights to adjust his/her speed for a smooth landing. The phrase "I have the ball" confirms that the pilot is aligning or has aligned his ship's angle of attack and speed for a proper entry and landing.
Captain Aaron Kelly is Galactica's LSO and in charge of all flight operations on the ship.