Hands-on approach

The ball shown in the -+- configuration (Final Cut).

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.

Captain Lee Adama completes a hands-on approach in his Viper Mk. VII (Miniseries).

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 Cylon viruses (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."