[rainabba]

Originally Posted by decibel

I hope you aren't being serious?? "Calls the ball" .. umm.. Top Gun? "Call The Ball" is when the LSO (Landing Signal Officer)on an Aircraft Carrier will ask the pilot coming in for a landing to "call the ball". This basically just means the LSO wants to know if the pilot has clearly seen the Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System. These are a set of big *** lights on the carrier used to give the pilot crucial information for landing.

Example:
LSO - "Maverick, you're 3/4 of a mile. Call the ball."
Pilot - "161 Tomcat ball, 54" (Means I see the ball, i weigh 54k lbs. This tells the flight deck to set the arresting cables accordingly.
LSO - "Roger Ball"
LSO will then call outload to the pilot and to the decks - "700, 800, 600, 700, 700", etc etc.. This is the rate of descent in feet per minute.

Pilot talk. It basically means, "Ok Pilot, your in full control now."

But I think he is really referring to "Call the ball" as in.. "This ball is mine! I got it, got it, mine, mine mine mine!" You know.. like in baseball, you are telling everyone around you its your ball, no one else come near. It's not yours. ??? That all make sense?

You kinda sound like you know what you're talking about Experience on a carrier? What role?