Magic Carpet or Maritime Augmented Guidance with Integrated Controls for Carrier Approach and Recovery Precision Enabling Technologies. The latest gen autonomous vehicle systems are welcomed in the most hazardous and most harrowing part of a naval pilot's mission, the carrier landing. Multiple decisions and adjustments are made in the last few seconds before snagging one of the four arrestor cables. Magic Carpet takes over and offers an autopilot mode to refine the landing trajectory as smooth and controlled as possible. The newer FA-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers will soon have this upgrade and help qualify newer pilots and bring veteran pilots on their carriers safely. The system also 'softly' lands the planes with less wear and tear from arrestor landings. The navalized F-35C Lightning IIs have this system standard and will be operational 2019.
Hornet and Growler program manager Capt. David Kindley explained, "What we do with Magic Carpet, and it's very disorienting for an aviator basically, you take the stick and push it forward until you're on glide slope, and then let go. Which is so weird to do in an airplane. Instead of making multiple corrections with throttle and stick to make glide slope, I just do one."