![]() ![]() The visual approach path of the VASI provides safe obstruction clearance within plus or minus ten degrees of the extended runway centerline and to four NM from the runway threshold. These lights are visible from 3-5 miles throughout the day and up to twenty miles or more at night. The Visual Approach Slope Indicator (VASI) is a system of lights arranged to supply visual descent guidance information throughout the approach to a runway for VFR and IFR pilots. Here are some examples of approach light systems that get you down to 100′ above the touchdown zone. But at the 100′ point, you need alternative visual references to descend lower. Once you’re flying an instrument approach, if you can see the white approach light system and nothing else, you can descend all the way down to 100′ above touchdown zone elevation, regardless of the kind of approach you’re flying (even if it’s a non-precision approach). Whether you’re VFR or IFR, approach lights can help you identify and line up with the runway at nighttime.īeyond that, approach lights help instrument pilots transition from IMC to VMC conditions. Where they start to alternate red and white for 2,000 feet and eventually solid red for the final 1,000 feet. When viewed from the landing threshold, runway centerline lights are white until the last 3,000 feet. The line of runway centerline lights may be uniformly offset laterally to the same side of the physical runway centerline by a maximum of 2.5 feet. Similar to runway centerline markings, knowing this distance can help you perfect landings at nighttime and ensure you don’t float too far. Runway centerline lights are spaced at fifty feet apart. Runway line lights are needed on runways used for takeoff operations below 1,600-foot RVR unless specifically approved by the Federal Aviation Agency in an airline operator’s specification for that runway. Runway centerline lights and touchdown zone lights are required for CAT II and CAT III runways, and for CAT I runways used for landing operations below 2,400 foot RVR. Keep in mind, however, that if you’re not landing on an instrument runway, the edge lights are white all the way to the end of the runway. This forms a caution zone for landing on instrument runways at nighttime. ![]() On instrument runways, edge lights are yellow on the last 2,000′, or half the runway length, whichever is less. Runway edge lights are white until you start getting close to the departure end of the runway. In addition, the runway edge lights must be two to ten feet offset from the full-strength paved runway edge. ![]() For runways with intersecting taxiways or alternative runways, the maximum gap cannot exceed four hundred feet. There are roughly nine color combinations of lighting you’ll notice around the edges of runways.īoth High-Intensity Runway Lights (HIRLs) and Medium Intensity Runway Lights (MIRLs) require a maximum spacing of two hundred feet between each runway edge light. Colors Found In The Runway Edge LightingĪccording to the FAA’s most up-to-date airfield Standards publication. Runway lighting is important for aircraft operating at night. Here’s how they’re spaced, and how these lights can make your next night flight safer. And the lights are spaced at defined intervals. If you’ve been to any major airport at night, you may have noticed on the runway there are a lot of different kinds of lights, ranging from flashing white or pulsating yellow to steady red and even blue. ![]()
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