Lesser Known Information About Airfield Runway Lighting Systems

The winters are drawing in. This is the time airports need to begin assessing the dangers of low runway visibility. Effective airfield lighting is important for better performance and ensuring a safe take off and landing. There are a lot of different kinds of lights in a range of colors on an airport. Proper airfield runway lighting systems are essential for aircraft operating at night.

While general airport lighting includes the airport beacon (large, rotating light) and any lights on top of towers and buildings that are highly visible from even miles away, taxiway lights are the ones that line the taxiways or are set inside the taxiways (intended to increase the taxiway intersection at night), or are positioned at each side of the taxiway at the hold short line (where a taxi meets the runway) to draw attention on to it.

Now comes the runway lights.

These could be a pair of white flashing lights on each side of the approach end of the runway that help identify the runway from taxiways at night.

Or they could be steady white lights on the edges of the runways. These can be high intensity, medium intensity, or low intensity.

Then, comes runway centerline lighting systems that are installed on some precision runways with white lights spaced at 50 ft intervals on the runway centerline.

Next comes touchdown zone lights that are steady white lights placed in two rows next to the centerline that start at 100 feet and extend all the way to the midpoint of the runway or even 3000 feet beyond the threshold, whichever is less.

Land and hold short lights are flashing white lights that are installed across the runway at the hold short line.

Several full service electrical contractors specializing in commercial, industrial, institutional electrical installations, data cable and fiber optic cable installation have an unlimited electrical contracting license and an unlimited electrical utility license. They specialize in all phases of airport lighting and have proven to work in the most challenging environments as a prime contractor in the construction of a new runway as a key subcontractor. Their goal is to provide a high quality finished product for airfield lighting projects. Their expert office staff has the experience to pursue a design-build airfield lighting project if the need arises, and many of their electricians have more than two decades of proven experience in working on active airfields.

The author is a web blogger. He writes article about electrical contractors in Charleston, SC.