É ajudar o piloto a pousar a aeronave (os carros de perseguição também são usados durante a decolagem). O U2 é considerado notoriamente difícil de voar em baixas altitudes - uma compensação em um aeronave otimizada para voo em altitudes muito elevadas :
Because the U-2 was so specialized, it was amazingly difficult to fly. ... the lower the U-2 flew, the heavier its unassisted controls got, to the point where pilots literally had to brute-force the plane around during take-off and landing.
... landings were the biggest problem. The replacement for Johnson's cart-and-skid ground system was a compact setup — two centrally located landing gear in the fuselage and one detachable "pogo" gear on each wing — that turned the U-2 into little more than a 30,000-pound bicycle. Because of the high-lift wings, pilots didn't so much land the plane as fly it really close to the ground (usually about two feet), stall it, and then fall out of the sky.
A diminuição da visibilidade dos pilotos, combinada com as asas altamente eficientes e o trem de pouso de bicicleta, fez com que os pousos não assistidos fossem difíceis (mas certamente possíveis, como foi demonstrado) - assim, os carros de perseguição.
Sobre os pilotos de carro de perseguição (eles mesmos pilotos de U2) descreve a broca :
... the objective is ensuring that the pilot safely landing the aircraft... calling him down to two feet... holding them off there and then the plane will just kind of settle down on the ground.