AIRPORT RUNWAY LIGHTING

Air Port:
An airport is a facility where passengers connect from ground
transportation to air transportation.
Runway:
Rectangular-shaped, paved surfaces on an airport, designed for
the landing or takeoff of airplanes.
• Runways may be a man made surface (often asphalt concrete, or a
mixture of both) or a natural surface (grass, dirt, gravel, etc…)
AIRPORT RUNWAY LIGHTING

During day/night time when the visibility is low a signal light is used to convey information
to pilot
During the early days flood lighting system is used
Flood lights of high intensity are used on runways
Remaining area consisting of apron, hangar lighted with flood lights spaced at 15m interval
During landing or take off only flood lines at end of runway are turned on.
To achieve uniformity and to guide pilots for unfamiliar airports, colours and general
arrangement of airport lights are standardized.
Airport lights are kept clean, well-maintained, checked regularly for faulty bulbs and
replacement.
Tough and laborious job, major airport contains 30,000 lights
Provision of emergency power supplies, which can take over in seconds in case of any
power failure.
LIGHTS USED IN AIR PORT RUNWAY:
 White Lights:
• Runway Surface Edges
• Runway Surface Centerline
• Runway Centerline on Approach
• Landing Zone
• Runway Approach Distance
• Visual Approach Slope Aid (Nearest Runway Threshold)
Red Lights:
• Runway Edges on Approach
• Runway Threshold in Opposite Direction (Wrong Direction)
• End of Runway in Direction of Operation
• Visual Approach Slope Aid (Farthest from Runway Threshold)
Green Lights:
• Runway Threshold

Blue Lights:
• Taxiways

Yellow Lights:
• Areas of Caution

Types of Airport Lights:

Airport lights can be divided into different types:
1. General airport lighting
2. Taxiway lighting
3. Runway lighting
4. Visual glideslope indicators.
RUNWAY LIGHTS:
Runway lighting is used at airports that allow night
landings. Seen from the air, runway lights form an outline of the runway.

Runway Lights
• Types of Runway Lights:
Following are different kinds of runway lights.
1. Runway end identifier lights (REIL)
The Runway End Identifier Lights (REIL) system provides rapid
and positive identification of the end of the runway.
• Runway threshold identification lights should be flashing white lights with a flash
frequency between 60 and 120 per minute. The lights shall be visible only in the
direction of approach to the runway.
• The lights are positioned on each corner of the runway landing threshold, facing the
approach area and aimed at an angle of 10 to 15 degrees.
• The REIL provides three intensity settings, and has an approximate range of three
miles in daylight and twenty miles at night.
• The REIL can be controlled by the air traffic control tower, remotely by the pilot, by
automatically sensing the electrical current through the runway edge lights, or
manually from the control cabinet.
2. Runway edge lights

Runway edge lighting are used to outline the edges of 

runways during periods of darkness or restricted visibility conditions. These
light systems are classified according to the intensity they are capable of
producing:
• High intensity runway lights (HIRL)
• Medium intensity runway lights (MIRL)
• Low intensity runway lights (LIRL)
Runway edge lights are white, until you start getting close to
the departure end of the runway. On instrument runways, edge lights are
yellow on the last 2,000', or half the runway length, whichever is less.
The majority of runway edge lights are clear or white, but there
are some exceptions to provide additional information to pilots in certain
circumstances.
3. Runway centerline lighting system
• The runway centerline lighting system consists of a single light installed
at uniform intervals along the runway centerline to provide a continuous
lighting reference from threshold to threshold. 
• The lights start from 75 ft(25 m) from the landing threshold and extend to within 7
5 ft of the end of the runway.
• The lights themselves are spaced at 50ft (15 m)intervals. When viewed from the lan
ding threshold, the runwaycenterline lights are white until the
last 3000 ft (900 m) of the runway.The white lights begin to alternate with red for t
he next 2000 ft (600 m), and for the last 1000 ft (300 m) of the runway,all centerlin
e lights are red. If the runway centerline lights are spaced at 25-
ft (7.5 m) intervals, alternate pairs of redand white lights should be used on the sec
tion from 3000 to 1000 ft (900300 m) from the runway end. Where therunway are l
ess than a 6000-
ft (1800 m) length, the alternate red and white extends from the midpoint of the ru
nwayusable for landing to 1000 ft (300 m) the runway end.
4. Touchdown zone lights:
• Touchdown zone lights are installed on some precision approach
runways to indicate the
touchdown zonewhen landing under adverse visibility conditions.
• They consist of two rows of transverse light bars
disposed symmetrically about the runway centerline.
• The system consists of steady−burning white lights which start 100
feet beyond the landing threshold and extend to 3,000 feet beyond
the landing threshold or to the midpoint of the runway, whichever is
less.
5. Land and hold short lights:
• When land and hold short operations (LAHSO) are in effect, flashing
white lights may be seen across the runway at the hold short line.
• During LAHSO, air traffic control may require a pilot who has just
landed to hold their position to keep clear an intersecting runway or
taxiway or some other designated point on a runway.