Enhanced Airport Lighting in the NAS

Abstract

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working to reduce runway incursions in the National Airspace System (NAS). This effort to enhance safety at our nation’s airports is one of the Agency’s highest priorities. As each airport is unique, the FAA maintains standards to ensure consistency for airport visual aids from airport to airport in the NAS. These critical tools serve as visual cues to pilots during airport surface movement. To support the Agency’s safety goals, the FAA Surface Systems Office is conducting research to identify new airport visual aids that may increase overall airport surface safety. This research includes an Enhanced Airport Lighting (EAL) research and development project to assess the use of runway guard lights (RGLs) as runway incursion prevention tools. Introduction RGLs have been part of the NAS since 1992. These flashing yellow lights located at the runway holding position provide visual cues that alert both pilots and vehicle operators that they are about to enter a runway. The current FAA requirement is to use RGLs with less than 1200 feet runway visual range (RVR) as a part of the Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (SMGCS). The EAL project has been undertaken to identify any potential benefits that may be obtained by using RGLs under non-SMGCS conditions, specifically to increase situational awareness. The EAL Project The EAL project promotes the use of airport visual aids to increase overall situational awareness on the airport surface, more specifically in the airport movement area. The current standard for visual cues to help pilots identify runway holding positions includes painted surface holding position markings and holding position signs. In some cases, various airport configurations, visibility conditions, and other obstructions may complicate a pilot’s ability to determine the location of the runway holding position. To address these conditions, the EAL project has two goals: (1) to identify additional visual aids to increase pilot’s ability to recognize the runway holding position and (2) to identify technologies that will increase overall situational awareness at our nation’s airports. The test EAL system, which requires no Air Traffic Control (ATC) intervention, has been installed at North Las Vegas Airport (VGT). The system consists of three different configurations of runway guard lights: • Elevated runway guard lights • In-pavement runway guard lights • In-pavement “T” configuration of runway guard lights. The lights are collocated with the standard runway holding position paint markings and signage at all 29 runway/taxiway holding positions throughout the entire airport. Controlled studies conducted at VGT by the Air Safety Technology Office of William J. Hughes Technical Center have quantitatively demonstrated the effectiveness of RGLs as a runway incursion prevention tool. In one case, on Taxiway Alpha 1, the pilot acquisition range more than doubled (209%) from 750 feet to 1170 feet during nighttime taxi operations with the addition of RGLs. In addition to the test at VGT, the EAL Team conducted an overall data assessment of other airports that have RGLs. By looking at the runway incursion history of these airports both before and after RGL installation, several trends are apparent. Although the total number of incursions was not reduced, RGL installation has helped 1 ATO Office of Technology Development, 800 Independence Ave, SW AIAA 5th Aviation, Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference (ATIO) 26 28 September 2005, Arlington, Virginia AIAA 2005-7332 This material is declared a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. to reduce the severity of incursions. The data shows fewer Category A and B incursions, with a corresponding increase in Category C or D incursions. This equates to improved safety, and is a uniform finding across the entire range of airports. As a result of the findings derived from the above efforts, the EAL Team is prepared to offer a series of recommendations: 1. The FAA application of RGLs should be modified to include their use as a runway incursion prevention tool independent of weather conditions. 2. Airports that currently have RGLs should turn them on during all operations. 3. RGLs should be powered during installations such that they can be operated independently of other lighting systems. 4. The FAA should consider making RGLs available to airports specifically for runway incursion prevention when recommended by the local Runway Safety Action Team (RSAT).