The most important tool a pilot makes use of is his ability
to see. Flying always has been and
always will be rooted in the pilot’s ability to visually acquire and interpret
various signals and other visual stimuli.
During the early days of cross country flying, pilots would
fly visually at night guided by bonfires set atop hills along their route. Later, during the days of the early airlines,
light beacons replaced those bonfires.
These high intensity beacons were aimed through directional lenses and
allowed a pilot to follow the beam of light from one beacon to the next when
weather conditions were clear.
Aviation lighting still is important. Lights help the pilot of an aircraft locate
the airport at night, define the runway environment, identify obstructions, and
most importantly see other aircraft during the day and night.
It is interesting to note that civil aircraft are not
required to have any external lighting.
Only if the aircraft is to be operated at night must it be equipped with
approved anti-collision lights (either a rotating beacon or strobe lights), and
an approved position lighting system (one green light on the left wingtip, one
red light on the right wingtip, and a white light on the tail). The aircraft only needs a landing light if it
is to be used for hire.
Most pilots turn on rotating beacons or strobe lights during
the day to enhance their visibility to other aircraft. In areas congested with air traffic, such as
the Los Angeles area or over most of the eastern seaboard, the Federal Aviation
Administration encourages use of the aircraft landing lights at all times to
aid in pilots visually identifying other air traffic.
Next time you drive by an airport at night look at the rotating
beacon on the airport. Watch as the
beacon rotates with a flash of white and then a flash of green. This alternating green/white flash identifies
the airport as a civil land based airport.
Seaplane bases and military bases have other distinctive colors and
flash sequences. Airport rotating
beacons can bee seen by a sharp-eyed pilot from
twenty or more miles away at night. An
airport rotating beacon in operation during the day means that the airport is
reporting weather conditions below minimums for visual flight.
At night an airport can be a sea of shimmering lights in a
black hole. The runways are marked with
white runway edge identifier lights. At
many airports the intensity of these runway lights can be controlled by the
control tower and even by the pilot of the aircraft by repeatedly and quickly
pressing the transmit key of the aircraft’s radio over the airport’s radio
frequency. Off the runway, the taxiway
lights are blue.
A series of lights may stretch for half a mile up to the
runway. These lights are known as runway
approach lights. On some runways the
approach lights have a fast moving strobe system that makes it appear that a
ball of light is moving quickly towards the runway. This rapidly moving ball of light is known as
“the rabbit” in pilot slang. If weather
conditions are hazy, the distraction caused by the reflection of this strobe
effect is annoying to pilots and the pilot may radio the control tower to “kill
the rabbit,” meaning to turn off the strobe portion of the approach lighting
system.
To the side of the runways there may be an approach slope
indicator display. Known as VASI (Visual
Approach Slope Indicator) or PAPI (Precision Approach Path Indicator) the
systems project beams of light from the runway touchdown zone upward towards
the approach course using two or more light projectors. A pilot flying towards the runway will see
red lights over red lights from the VASI display if the aircraft is to low on
the approach. An indication of red over
white will indicate an on glide slope position resulting in a 3 degree descent
towards the runway, and white over white will indicate too high. Two other visual approach slope indicators
are in limited use: Tricolor Visual Approach Slope Indicator and Pulse Light
Approach Slope Indicator.
In an emergency, if an aircraft has lost radio contact, the
control tower is equipped with high intensity light guns. These light guns have white, green, and red
lenses and are used to signal an aircraft.
A steady green light for an aircraft on the ground means cleared for
takeoff, if the aircraft is in flight it means cleared to land. If the green light signal is flashing the
aircraft on the ground would be cleared to taxi and the airborne aircraft would
be cleared to land. Other variations of
the steady and flashing red, green, and white lights have other specific
meanings for the pilot of the aircraft.
During the medical examination pilots must pass
periodically, a color blindness test is administered. The pilot must be able to successfully
demonstrate an ability to discern the colors presented by the medical
examiner. If the pilot fails to pass the
color blindness test his license may be restricted to daylight flights only.
Santa
Ynez Runway Closures to End
The only runway at Santa Ynez
Valley Airport, 8-26, is scheduled to reopen September 28 after a resurfacing
project that was begun on September 17.
The runway, taxiways, ramp and apron areas were coated with sealant by a
team of workers headed by Granite Construction Company. Another closure during the second week of
October is scheduled for a period of 4 days to complete details of the
resurfacing project.