Landing signal officer

A landing signal officer or landing safety officer (LSO), also informally known as paddles (United States Navy) or batsman (Royal Navy), is a naval aviator specially trained to facilitate the "safe and expeditious recovery" of naval aircraft aboard aircraft carriers.

Since the introduction of optical landing systems in the 1950s, LSOs assist pilots by giving information via radio handsets.

The signals provided information on lineup with the deck, height relative to proper glide slope, angle of attack (fast or slow), and whether the plane's tailhook and wheels were down.

The final signal was "the cut" (a slashing motion at the throat) ordering the pilot to reduce power and land the aircraft.

In a properly executed landing, the aircraft's tailhook snagged an arresting wire that brought the plane to a halt.

On the other hand, Royal Navy signals were usually mandatory, such as ordering the pilot to add power, or come port.

[citation needed] From the late 1950s, carriers evolved from the original straight or axial-deck configuration into the angled flight deck, with an optical landing system (OLS) providing glide slope information to the pilot.

This is done as a visual reminder to the LSOs that the deck is "fouled" – unsafe for an approach, with aircraft, debris, or personnel in the landing area.

Prospective LSOs are selected among junior pilots from each fixed wing USN and USMC carrier aviation squadron.

[5] Every carrier landing made by US pilots is graded for safety and technique, using a complex shorthand to denote what each aircraft did during various phases of each approach.

Approaches are divided into parts: Deviations from optimal glideslope, centerline, and angle of attack are noted for each phase, resulting in an overall grade, which is debriefed to each pilot by the LSO teams after each cycle.

An example comment might read, "High, a little overshooting start, fly through down on comeback in the middle, low in close to at the ramp.

For the last portion of the approach, the aircraft remained below glideslope (but was on centerline because of the lack of a comment), touching down prior to the target 3-wire.

The LSO in popular culture is romantically represented by "Beer Barrel", the colorful officer in James Michener's best-seller The Bridges at Toko-Ri.

In Battlestar Galactica, Aaron Kelly serves as the ship's LSO, responsible for the comings and goings of spacecraft.