There are two schools of thought with respect to this application; both methods require the same hardware. The difference comes from deciding what to use as the reference features, the floor assembly jig, or the aircraft section.

In either case, 2 auto-buck-in lasers and 6 reference targets are used. There are 3 targets placed on what represents the waterline of the aircraft and 3 targets placed on what represents the buttock line. Next, the laser beams are adjusted in the pitch and roll axes using the manual keypad until the laser spot is at the approximate center of each of the six reference targets. The laser scanning and the auto-buck-in modes are enabled. The two laser bases will now automatically calculate how far each target is from the laser base and adjust the laser plane until it is parallel to the "waterline" and "buttock line" reference targets. Finally, the base will make an elevation move and make all of the reference targets read zero within a user specified tolerance.

Additional targets are now placed on the body section to be joined. The entire body section is then moved in the roll axis and in elevation until it is within alignment tolerances. The targets again provide a live display of the body section's moves. Additional body sections can be joined to one another by transferring the measuring targets from the previously aligned section. The laser planes extend 100 feet (30.5 meters) in radius from the laser base, making a 200 feet (61 meters) alignment task achievable from a single setup.