Here's what I have observed over the course of the show...

1. 'Furies launch from a series of drop bays. These bays are located in several locations around the hull of B5, not just in the forward spherical support sections. I believe that there's a set of bays at the rear of the station. Am I mistaken?
   
2. 'Furies "land" dock? through the main docking bay. If there really are bays at the rear of the station, though, there HAS to be another docking bay back there that we just haven't seen.
   
3. Starfuries have no landing gear, and we haven't SEEN any gear on Thunderbolts, either (though they probably DO have them, being capable of atmospheric as well as space flight).
   
4. Earth does not have "tractor beams" during the time of the first four seasons (unless the new "Warlock" class shadow-technology based destroyers have them).
   
5. The COBRA bays (odd term for the fighter launch bays... made me think for most of the first year that the fighters were called cobras!) have catwalks and ladders, from which ship maintenance is performed and pilots board. I base this on several first-year scenes of people in spacesuits standing on these catwalks.
   
6. Fighters are moved into their bays on pallets, each of which carries two fighters. These pallets move on a rail system.
   
7. I seem to recall the following configuration for the B5 forward docking area. First there are external shield doors, which we've never seen closed but obviously have the capability, the there's an "atrium" area. Inside this atrium is a set of pressure doors. Beyond those is an area with four doors (one on each of four sides, at least two of which (and most likely all of which) retract to provide access to a lift platform. These platforms travel "down" to a rail system "ring." They then rotate around the circumference of the station until they reach their assigned open station. We've seen a variety of shuttles and transports dock this way. There may be several concentric rings of docking space in the sphere, and this is almost certainly where the private bays (such as the one that held Kosh's transport) are.

Also, further in beyond this four-lift chamber is another set of pressure doors. I believe that this is the entrance to the fighter "landing" bay. It has warning stripes, and just strikes me the same way the the "military zone" areas at most contemporary airports do.

OK, now we have all our facts and assumptions straight... let's fill in the blanks. I'll run through the process I believe a "new arrival" starfury will follow.

First, the new ship enters the docking bay, at low speed. It passes into the atrium, through the first set of pressure doors, and loiters while the first set closes.

The second set opens, and the fighter passes into a second bay which is specifically intended as a fighter receiving area. In this area is a pallet with two sets of clamps, as seen before. The starfury docks... this would be manual control with computer assist, and would very likely involve a number of visual and electronic aids designed into the compartment walls. Basically, the fighter would stop, tilt backward, and drop towards the "railroad car." Lights would go red or green, show arrows, whatever, to assist the pilot in hitting the mark.

Once docked, the clamp folds down, and the second ship is allowed to enter the compartment and perform the same operation. (Remember that fighters are usually sent out in two-ship flights, with one pilot being the flight leader, usually a senior flyer, and the other being the wingman, typically a less experienced pilot.)

The car moves into it's own elevator and moves "downward" into the normal-gravity region of the station. The pilots disembark there, and if major repair work is needed (or a new coat of paint!) it would be done in a shop around here. If the ship is undamaged, it is left on the pallet; if not, it is pulled off and moved to maintenance. In either case, the pallet then moves on to the launch bays.

I could be mistaken here, but I believe that the pallets clamp onto the lower wing of the fury, while I KNOW that the launch grabbers clamp onto the upper wing. This makes sense to me the pallet moves along underneath the launch grabbers, 'til it reaches the position assigned to the fighters on it. The grabbers drop down(we haven't seen it but it makes sense) and seize the upper wings, and the pallet lets go. The grabber then retracts to the "ceiling" again and the pallet moves on towards the front of the compartment, where it's track becomes a fast ride up to the fighter landing bay. There are probably several of these "railroad car" type pallets operating at all times.

When the pilot gets the order to go, he (or she) suits up, enters the bay (which appears to be unpressurized) and enters the fighter via the catwalk system. The grabbers lower the ship to standby position. You can tell has happened... the catwalks are clearly WELL ABOVE the fighters rather than at the level with them as seen in the catwalk views of the bays.

At this point the (unpressurized) bay is opened to space and the clamp rotates down and releases, literally dropping the ship into space. And then the fun starts...

Cary L. Brown