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Arresting gear is an apparatus used to halt an airplane's forward motion when landing on an aircraft carrier. It consists of wire cables stretched across the flight deck that engage a hook on the airplane's tail. This system allows aircraft to land safely within a limited space, even at high speeds. While initially used to prevent light aircraft from being blown overboard, its purpose evolved to prevent landing planes from rolling into stowed aircraft. The U.S. and Japanese navies continued to use arresting gear for this reason, whereas the Royal Navy abandoned it around 1926.123

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