Carrier Operations

Final Approach and Landing

Whether you are nearing the final stages of a Case III recovery or have just turned out of the downwind leg of a Case I or II landing pattern, you must now land the aircraft on board the very small available area of carrier flight deck designed to make a successful arrestment. From this point forward you will be quite busy; you have to keep the aircraft descending at the proper rate, it must be moving such that it will arrive at the center of the landing area’s angled deck, it must be heading for an area where it can catch one of the arresting cables, the flight path must account for the motion of the ship during the approach, and the rate of descent at touchdown must be below the threshold of damage for the airframe and the landing gear.

The primary rule of aircraft landings is that the stick controls the airspeed and the throttle controls the altitude. This is contrary to how an airplane normally operates. At low speed, however, aircraft do not usually generate enough lift to maintain level flight. In this configuration, the higher the nose, the slower the speed, and the higher the thrust, the slower the rate of descent. If you need to slow down your rate of descent during an approach, do not raise the nose; you will only fall faster. Instead, add power and lower the nose slightly.

A corollary to the above rule pertains to making power (throttle) adjustments. The rule is “on, off, half on” or “off, on, half off”. This rule allows a power change in order to stop a negative tendency (i.e. the aircraft drifting low or high on the glideslope), then performs the opposite power change in order to avoid an overcorrection, then puts half of the change back in in order to stabilize the approach.

You have a lot of tools at your disposal to aid in your final approach and landing. The most valuable is the velocity vector in your HUD; this shows at all times where your aircraft is headed (note that this is significantly different than where the aircraft is pointed).

Another tool to aid your approach is the AOA (angle of attack indexer). This is a box positioned outside the lower left corner of your HUD. The box has three symbols:

• Two lines sloping inwards as they move down; these are backlit green and, when lit, indicate an approach speed that is too slow.
• Two halves of a circle; these are backlit amber and, when lit, indicate an on-speed approach.
• Two lines sloping inwards as they move up; these are backlit red and, when lit, indicate an approach speed that is too fast.

Two light colors can also display, indicating a slightly slow (green and amber) or slightly fast (red and amber) approach speed. WARNING: Be very alert to red AOA lights. A too-fast approach can mean your aircraft is sinking too quickly. If uncorrected, you will go into the water short of the carrier or crash into the carrier’s fantail.

Your third tool is the ILS indicator. When activated (use the “l” keystroke or click the box on the UFC), a horizontal and vertical line appear on your HUD. These lines represent the glideslope and centerline, respectively. Keeping in mind that the carrier continues to move forward and to the right during your approach, use the ILS guidelines in conjunction with your velocity vector to aid your approach.

Your final tool is the IFLOLS (improved fresnel lens optical landing system). The IFLOLS is a system comprising lights, lenses, and mirrors, that directs optical guidance up the glideslope so that it is visible to pilots approaching the carrier. Each set of lights is directed through lenses so that they are visible in a wide horizontal area but a narrow vertical area. As the aircraft moves up and down relative to the ideal glideslope, the position of the guidance light (the “ball” or “meatball”) moves up and down relative to a fixed set of green “datum” lights. If the pilot can keep the ball “centered” (i.e. in between the datum lights) to touchdown, he will land in exactly the proper position on the flight deck.

So, knowing all of that, how exactly do we get the aircraft to behave? Well, for starters, put your velocity vector slightly above and to the right of the ILS glideslope centerline intersection. Now take a look at your AOA indexer. We want to illuminate the amber light only. If you are going too fast (red), pitch the nose up and use the throttle to compensate and remain on the glideslope. If the light is green, lower the nose and again use the throttle to compensate. Every time you change the AOA you will need to change the power input in order to maintain a given descent path.

While bringing your AOA in-line with the proper value, keep an eye on your lineup. If you are lined up properly, it will appear that you are too far to the right (and the ILS will indicate as such). During the initial stages of the approach the velocity vector should be kept in front of the carrier and to the right of the flight deck. As you get closer, a good place to aim the velocity vector is at the top of the island. In-close (inside 0.5nm) you should work the velocity vector progressively farther to the left and slightly down, until your wheels make contact with the deck.

Inside of 2nm,  the IFLOLS should be used exclusively for glideslope information. This is because the ILS is not accurate at close range. If you use the ILS as your only glideslope indicator, you will always land short. The IFLOLS pop-up display can be brought up by activating the POPUP_IFLOLS command (default keystroke “CRTL+b”) inside of 2nm. The real ball is located to the left of the landing area, and works, but due to the contraints of computer resolutions a pop-up is necessary. If the “ball” is higher than the datum lights, your aircraft is too high. If the “ball” is below the datums, you are too low.

If you are flying a Case III recovery, the LSO (landing signal officer) will contact you at 3/4 of a mile with the message “[callsign], three quarters of a mile, call the ball.” The LSO stands on a platform to the left of the landing area and is the shipboard officer responsible for aircraft landing safety. If you appear to the LSO to be too far out of landing parameters at any point in your approach, he will instruct you to “wave off”. Immediately add power, arrest your rate of descent, and overfly the carrier. Climb to 1,200 feet and reenter the landing pattern, following instructions from the approach controller.

Assuming your approach is within parameters, use the ball for glideslope information and dotted line on the landing area deck as well as the ILS centerline indicator for lineup information. When your wheels hit the deck increase the throttle to full military power. If your arresting hook does not engage a wire you will roll of the end of the angled deck and should climb to 1,200 feet and reenter the landing pattern. If you are flying a Case III recovery, the LSO will tell you to “bolter”, which indicates that your hook did not engage, and you will be radioed instructions. If your hook snags a cable you will stop quickly and will be automatically taxied out of the landing area. The four arresting cables (or “wires”) are numbered with the 1-wire towards the aft end of the ship and the 4-wire towards the front of the angled deck (note that the Jane’s F-18 manual has this backwards). Since a perfect approach puts the hook on deck between the 2 and 3 wires, the goal is to catch a 3-wire. Just before touchdown, the window required for a successful 3-wire engagement is a mere 18 inches wide.

If you’ve made it this far, congratulations. Carrier operations are a tough business and the workload in Jane’s F-18 gives a small look into what real naval aviators deal with every day.