It only gets easier.... Just the other day the F-35B did a fully automatic (no pilot involved - just pressed the button) vertical landing for the first time. The F-35C with JPALS precision will do such 'auto landings' very nicely. However some old info (when President Bush was doing his first carrier landing back in 2003) will clarify day landings anyway. The first part of this article is a bit 'suspect' [about nuts & bolts] but this last part quoted below is worthwhile:
Aircraft carrier landings are ‘highly automated’ – May 01, 2003
http://donaldmsensing.blogspot.com/2003/05/aircraft-carrier-landings-are-highly.html“Update: I spoke this morning to a retired rear admiral whom I know. He was a naval aviator who commanded a carrier battle group before he retired. He said:
True hands-off landings are indeed possible. In fact, a third to almost half of all carrier landings are hands-off landings. Patterns for autolanding are extended and final approach to the deck typically does start up to a mile away from the ship's stern.
In daytime with good weather, pilots almost always land the plane themselves, though. Manual-control patterns are very tight; the pilot will swivel to wings-level for final approach only about 1/4 [3/4] mile away. He is in constant communication with the landing signal officer on the deck and uses the optical systems I described above. The admiral said that once you do enough of these landings they actually become fun. Nighttime manual landings are never fun, he said, except after combat missions because then any landing is fun – certainly more than being shot at!
Tight patterns are the most efficient for aircraft recovery because they permit the shortest intervals between landings, as short as 20 seconds or so. Autolanding systems are not used for tight patterns because there is not enough time for the pilot to check them out before landing. Autolanding systems are almost invariably used in bad weather or rough seas.
He guessed that the landing for President Bush's aircraft will be a tight-pattern, manual landing because it's the best "show" for the president. Especially since Bush was a fighter pilot himself and can be relied on not to toss his cookies!
The admiral's son flies Vikings now, the same plane Bush will ride. The Viking is a very stable plane and has the ability to "dump" lift right over the fantail of the flight deck. There is a button on the pilot's controls that activates a mechanical means that reduces the wing's lift by up to 85 percent. So it can be landed on the deck with great certainty.
There is a "bubble" of turbulent air about 100 feet off the carrier created by the moving mass of the ship. The faster the ship is going, the bigger the bubble. Pilots have to correct for how the bubble affects their landing descent, but this is a known problem.”
