Sticking The Landing: U.S. Navy Software Eases Aircraft Carrier Landings

Traditionally, as F/A-18E/F and EA-18G pilots approached an aircraft carrier for a landing, they would focus on power and other related adjustments to better align the aircraft, putting the jet through a herky-jerky dance as it descended on a slope to the rising, falling and rolling deck.

With Magic Carpet, though, the Navy has “decoupled" the glideslope and angle of attack and lineup on approach. Pilots can adjust the glideslope via the integrated controls without changing power by relying more on angle-of-attack variations.

The Magic Carpet software changes in the aircraft’s integrated control create numerous quick and minor fluctuations in the wings and their edges, causing them to flare similar to how a bird will flare its wings upon a landing. The result is a smoother glide toward the deck, test pilots say.

Test pilot reports, as well as extensive data, reveal that Magic Carpet has yielded smoother, more reliable and apparently safer landings on the carrier deck.

Pilots reported no difference between landing the Super Hornets or the heavier Growlers during the tests. For some of the flights, the Super Hornets were purposely overloaded on one wing or the other.

During the testing, the Navy reported only one case of “bolter”—an aircraft whose tailhook failed to catch an arresting wire and had to race off the deck for another pass. The hook apparently bounced on the ground over the wire in those instances, officials say.

Pilots purposely put the aircraft into odd or risky approaches to test Magic Carpet—but the system guided the aircraft to a clean, solid landing spot on the deck each time.

The testing proved the current interim version works, officials say, and it could be made available to some fleet aircraft in the coming months. The final fleet release version of the technology is expected in 2019.