How Naval Pilots Land on Aircraft Carriers: The Technology Behind the Meatball
An aircraft carrier can launch a fighter travelling at hundreds of kilometres per hour, but recovering that same aircraft is a considerably more demanding task. The pilot must bring it down onto a short, moving flight deck, maintain the correct speed and descent rate, and position a small tailhook to catch one of the arresting wires.
Optical Landing Systems (OLS) help pilots solve one of the most important parts of this problem: maintaining the correct approach path.
The US Navy’s Improved Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System (IFLOLS), popularly known as the meatball, is one of the best-known examples. Russia’s LUNA-3E performs a similar function and has been identified as the optical landing aid on India’s indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant.
With India preparing to operate the French Rafale M alongside the Russian-origin MiG-29K, an obvious question arises: can both aircraft use the same optical landing system, or will INS Vikrant need a different one?
To answer that, we first need to understand why carrier landings are so difficult and how these systems work.
Why landing on an aircraft carrier is different
Consider a fighter approaching a conventional airfield. It has a long runway, a relatively stable surface and room to make corrections during its final approach. An aircraft carrier offers none of these advantages to the same degree. The landing area is short, the ship is moving, and the aircraft must approach precisely.
A naval fighter typically approaches with its landing gear down and tailhook extended. Rather than relying on wheel brakes to stop, it aims to catch one of the steel arresting wires stretched across the flight deck. The wires transfer the aircraft’s energy into the carrier’s arresting gear, bringing it to a stop over a short distance.(Show in image)
Miss every wire, and the aircraft may have to apply power and climb away for another attempt. This is known as a bolter.
The same basic problem applies to other fixed-wing naval aircraft. An E-2 Hawkeye, for example, is a large turboprop aircraft carrying a prominent radar dome above its fuselage. Despite its different role and size, it must also make a precise arrested landing when operating from a suitable carrier.
A successful carrier landing depends on several factors working together
Glide path: The aircraft must follow the prescribed descent path. Too high, and it risks reaching the landing area beyond the intended touchdown zone. Too low, and the tailhook may reach the deck at an unsafe height.(shown in image – I couldn’t find more detailed and 3d picture to help better visualise it). Just understand that a glide path as a imaginary line drawn from the point of touch down to the aircraft and the aircraft has to follow it.
Line-up: The aircraft must be aligned with the angled landing area. Touch down at the precise point to catch the wire.(This you can see in picture)
Speed and angle of attack: The aircraft must maintain its prescribed landing condition. Arriving too fast, too slowly or with an excessive descent rate can compromise the landing.
Deck motion: The ship pitches, rolls and heaves as it moves through the sea. The landing surface is therefore not a fixed reference in the same way as a runway on land.
The pilot must manage these factors while operating in a demanding environment, often at night or in poor visibility. This is where the optical landing system comes in. It provides a visual reference for the glide path, allowing the pilot to judge whether the aircraft is approaching at the intended angle.
What is an Optical Landing System?
Ok, not going too much into the technical depth, will just know the components and their function. An Optical Landing System is a shipboard visual aid that indicates an approaching aircraft’s position relative to a prescribed glide path. You can see the various lights with different colour. We’ll see what does each light function is and what their relative position with each other mean.
The term meatball is commonly used for the system as a whole, but technically it refers to the central light indication in systems such as IFLOLS.
The US Navy describes IFLOLS as providing stabilised glide-path information to pilots approaching an aircraft carrier. The pilot sees a virtual yellow or amber ball of light in relation to fixed green reference lights.
The pilot compares that cue with a reference and makes the necessary corrections.
Two systems are particularly relevant to this discussion:
- IFLOLS: The Improved Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System, used by the US Navy and installed aboard France’s Charles de Gaulle(uses SAFRAN IFLOLS) after its older optical system was replaced.
- LUNA-3E: A Russian optical landing system identified in reporting as the system fitted to INS Vikrant.
Both provide a visual reference for the approach, but their hardware and signal conventions are not identical.
What does the position of the meatball mean to the pilot?
This is the most important part of the system. The lights provide useful information only when the pilot understands what they mean and how to respond.
1. Meatball above the green datum lights — HIGH
- The aircraft is above the desired glide path. It must correct towards the prescribed approach path; the pilot monitors the ball’s movement and makes smooth corrections.
2. Meatball slightly above datum — SLIGHTLY HIGH
- The aircraft is still a little high. The correction should be proportional to the deviation rather than an abrupt manoeuvre.
3. Meatball aligned with datum — ON GLIDE PATH
- This is the desired relationship. The aircraft is tracking the prescribed vertical approach path, assuming the optical indication is valid and properly stabilised.
4. Meatball below datum — LOW
- The aircraft is below the desired glide path. It needs to recover towards the prescribed path. The LSO assesses how low it is, how rapidly it is descending and whether the approach remains safe.
5. Red low cell — DANGEROUSLY LOW
- This is the serious warning. The aircraft is below the normal amber glide-path indication. The pilot must not try to salvage an unsafe low approach by making tiny corrections; a wave-off may be necessary.
What the other lights do
One important distinction is an optical landing system is designed primarily to provide vertical glide-path information. It does not independently measure other variable like speed, alignment with deck, angle-of-attack, that determines whether a carrier landing is safe. The pilot must manage three separate elements.
How the Russian LUNA-3E works
Russia’s LUNA-3E performs the same broad task as IFLOLS: it provides a visual indication of the aircraft’s position relative to the prescribed glide path. The Russian LUNA family as uses the same vertical arrangement of coloured lights, a green reference, stabilisation equipment and separate landing-prohibition signals. The central principle is similar, but just the visual arrangement differs.
The underlying logic remains the same:
- An indication above the green reference means the aircraft is above the prescribed glide path.
- An indication aligned with the reference means the aircraft is on the intended path.
- An indication below the reference means the aircraft is below the intended path.
What optical landing system does INS Vikrant have?
India’s first indigenously built aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, was commissioned in September 2022. In February 2023, the Indian Navy announced the successful landing and take-off of the MiG-29K and LCA Navy during its aviation trials. More or less it is reported that LUNA-3E was installed aboard Vikrant and guided the MiG-29K along its prescribed descent path.
The Rafale M question: will Vikrant need IFLOLS?
The French carrier Charles de Gaulle underwent modernisation in which its older OP3 mirror optical landing system was replaced by IFLOLS the same system used by US Navy. This is the source of the apparent compatibility problem: the Indian Navy’s MiG-29K is associated with LUNA, while the Rafale M operates with IFLOLS in French service.
The fact that the Rafale M has operated with IFLOLS in France does not, by itself, mean it can only recover on a ship fitted with IFLOLS. Since the underlying logic remains the same, what matters is whether the aircraft’s approach geometry, the ship’s landing aid, the arresting system and the approved recovery procedures work together.
Since different aircraft can have different geometry and approach characteristics. The existing optical system must therefore be validated for the Rafale M, with any necessary adjustments made in flight-test process. Since Rafale M has already carried out a arrested landing on INS Vikrant few days ago, that signals that necessary certifications have been completed.
With recent reports indicates that the Navy appears to be considering a transition to the French SAFRAN IFLOLS (Improved Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System).
Images in social media of recent trails shows changes in the flight-deck adding landing-area markings on INS Vikrant, that appear similar to those used aboard France’s Charles de Gaulle. Deck markings provide visual references for aircraft positioning and landing-area alignment.
Then there is modifications required for lift on INS Vikrant. INS Vikrant’s elevators were designed around the dimensions and handling requirements of aircraft such as the MiG-29K.
The problem arises from the Rafale M’s fixed wings.
| Aircraft | Wingspan | Folding wings |
|---|---|---|
| MiG-29K | 7.8 m (folded) | Yes |
| Rafale M | 10.9 m | No |
This creates difficulties in transporting the aircraft between the flight deck and hangar. One possibility discussed in earlier reporting is removing the wingtip missile pylons to reduce the aircraft’s overall width during elevator operations.
There are also reports suggesting that the French Navy may temporarily provide Rafale M aircraft to India for pilot training before deliveries of the Indian aircraft begin which is expected in 2028–2030.
