Day x Night: Video shows how landings occur in these two situations

You may have seen images of fighter jets and other aircraft landing on tiny aircraft carrier runways. For those watching, the impression is that the pilots will not be able to stop in time and will end up diving into the sea. And if it seems difficult to get this maneuver right during the day, with enough light to visualize the environment, imagine having to do the same thing at night, in complete darkness.

The following video, posted on YouTube by Carl Vause, shows how the landing maneuver occurs in both situations. Vause combined images recorded in 1997 by two identical aircraft - Lockheed S-3 Viking - during day and night evolutions. According to the information, the two landings occurred on the same day, in the same aircraft carrier and the same crew was present on both occasions. Check out:

The only difference between the two videos is that one records a maneuver performed shortly after midnight - during a moonless night - while the other takes place in the middle of the afternoon. As for landing at night, imagine the difficulty of making this evolution in the middle of the ocean and without any visible reference point beyond a few lights indicating where the runway boundaries are!