What is This and How is it Part of High Reliability??

Landing an airplane on an aircraft carrier goes a little something like this…an aircraft, moving at around 150ish miles per hour descends on a very fixed glideslope all while the pilot makes very fine and near constant corrections on the power and the position of the airplane towards a large and moving piece of metal that be rolling, pitching, and/or heaving depending on the conditions of the water upon which it is sailing and this whole event may be taking place in poor weather conditions and/or at night with/without moonlight and all of which has the very intended goal of putting the airplane down safely on the carrier’s runway (aka the “Landing Area," which in itself is a moving target) in the same spot each and every time for each and every airplane and to make, for lack of a better description, this entire thing not that big of a deal despite this excessive run-on sentence would make it seem like it is. A carrier landing is sometimes called a “controlled crash.” There's a little more to it, though. It is a High Reliability case study and this is the brief story of one tool that makes it so.

The Optical Landing System (OLS - pictured above in an albeit antiquated, display model) is the device to show pilots the proper glideslope to put the airplane in that specific spot for each and every landing. The OLS has two main components. The first is the source which is a single beam of light that can move vertically to show the pilot precise position for the aircraft with respect to correct glide path. It is amber colored and when viewed from an approaching airplane, the light appears as a circular glow giving it the name, “The Meatball” or “The Ball.” You may have heard of this in Top Gun when Maverick “calls the Ball” (FYI - he does in incorrectly, but that’s Hollywood and it's all good…). The other component of the OLS are the datum lights, which extend horizontally outward on either side of the source light. The datums are green and they provide the reference for the right glide path - placing the “Ball” directly between the datums shows a pilot that the aircraft is on the correct glideslope for landing. The pilot will continue to make constant corrections on the airplane, all while referencing the “Ball,” all the way to touchdown. Unlike an airline flight in which the pilots try to ease the descent of the airplane just prior to touchdown for a (hopefully) smooth and soft landing, the airplane coming aboard the carrier keeps its decent going all the way until landing/impact on the deck of the ship - this is known as “flying the ball all the way to touchdown.” The OLS is also designed so that the source light becomes much more sensitive the closer the airplane is to touchdown. “The Ball” will show out of proper parameters with just a few feet of altitude variation in the seconds prior to landing/controlled crashing.

The OLS dates back to just after World War II. During those relatively early days of carrier-based aviation, a person would stand at the back of the ship and provide visual signals to pilots for proper landing reference. The first OLS replaced these people by projecting a light off of a mirror to show pilots the decent angle for landing on the ship. Over time, a series of Fresnel lenses - like a lighthouse - arranged vertically replaced the mirror. In the last few decades, new fiber optic technology has increased the overall visual clarity of the entire system. It is also mounted on the ship such that it remains stable during rough seas, poor weather conditions, or other situations that might comprise the reliability of the OLS.

A hallmark of High Reliability Organizations is the ability to perform in high consequence environments without serious incident. Although accidents can occur during carrier-based operations, by and large, these occurrences are infrequent and when they do happen, the discussion and learning from these instances is robust and with the goal that whatever happened not happen again. Even the pilots who fly aircraft aboard ships and use the OLS for repetitive precise landings receive feedback on each and every landing. This feedback covers even the most minor variations in the approach and includes a grade on the landing itself. These mechanisms all feed into the goal of safe and reliable operations that largely avoid catastrophic error. Despite its relative simplicity, the OLS is a central part of the larger foundation of safe, reliable operations of airplanes landing aboard an aircraft carrier.

Right now, there are carrier-based aircraft operations happening all over the world. This is dedicated to all those aboard ship right now who make these operations possible and successful.

Here is brief overview of landing aboard an aircraft and the OLS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou419GX_07A

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