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

↑ 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: @@
-As is quite obvious, all pilots need to land. As the saying goes, "What goes up, must come down." What matters here is how they do it. Before the suprise [[Cylon Attack]], and (of course) depending on the ship, the two choices were an automatic landing or a hands-on approach. This is the typical landing procedure aboard the [[Galactica]]. It is brought up by [[Adama, Lee|Apollo]] in the [[mini-series]]. The opposite of an hands-on approach is the utilization of an auto-landing system. [[Adama, William|Commander Adama]] has banned the use of the auto-landing system aboard the [[Galactica]], probably because it involves networking computers. The system probably sends info from the [[Galactica]] to the ship that is trying to land and the autopilot would read that info and land the ship itself. The hands-on approach is completely manual though.
+[[Image:Viperapproach 104 1080i.jpg|thumb|200px|The ''ball'' shown in the -+- configuration {{TRS|Act of Contrition}}.]]
-Radio calls for a hands-on approach are:
+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.
-Landing Operator: "Green light for hands-on approach. *Callsign*, call the ball."
+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]].
-Pilot: "I have the ball."
+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.
+[[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]] exchange for a hands-on approach between [[LSO|Landing Signal Officer]] and pilot might go like this:
+:'''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>."
+:'''Pilot:''' "Copy. I have the ball."
+{{clear}}
+== References ==
+{{reflist}}
+[[Category:A to Z]]
+[[Category:Technology]]
+[[Category:Terminology]]
+[[Category:RDM]]
+[[Category:TRS]]
+[[fr:Approche manuelle]]