Optical Landing System - Pitching Deck

Pitching Deck

The IFLOLS has three modes of stabilization. Point, Line, and Inertial. The most precise is inertial stabilization. In point stabilization, the glide slope is fixed around a point 2500 feet aft of the lens. In Line, the glide path is stabilized to infinity. As the deck pitches and rolls, the source lights are rolled to maintain a steady glideslope fixed in space. Inertial stabilization functions like Line, but also compensates for the flight deck heave (the straight up and down component of deck motion). If the IFLOLS cannot keep up with the motion of the deck, the LSO can switch to the MOVLAS or simply perform "LSO talk downs." Only the most experienced LSOs will perform talk downs or control aircraft with MOVLAS during heavy sea states.