Aug. 27, 2013
Vol. 2 Issue 88
BEHIND The Visual Landing Aids of uss nimitz Story and photo by MC3 (SW) Nathan McDonald
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aunching and recovering aircraft is a tightly orchestrated evolution, requiring a dizzying number of parts and people. The interior communication electricians (IC) on board the Nimitz play an important part in flight operations through the Improved Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System (IFLOLS) and the Integrated Launch and Recovery Television Surveillance (ILARTS) system. “Basically, IFLOLS is a series of lights the pilots look at when they’re about to land,” said Interior Communication Electrician 3rd Class Arlene Perez, an IFLOLS technician from Brooklyn, N.Y. “There’s a line going across that’s blue and then you have a yellow light in the middle called ‘the meatball’. When
the pilots line them up they know they’re lined up correctly to land.” IFLOLS is such an important part of flight operations that there are three back-up systems in place in case the IFLOLS experiences problems. “During flight operations sometimes an error or critical failure could happen, which could mean flight operations would have to stop,” said Perez. “If that happens, we would rig up the Manually Operated Visual Landing Aid System (MOVLAS). It’s basically a smaller version of the IFLOLS. Everyone in the shop would go man it up, set it up and the landing signal officers would raise it up and down manually.” While such failures can be stressful, it also keeps - Continued on page 3 -