Professional Pilot, January 2016
Symbology from HUD Imagery augmentation with SVS PROFESSIONAL PILOT January 2016 71 way are only permitted to have frangible signs lights or other items that are necessary fixed by function A greater area is the runway safety area which is prepared to minimize damage to the aircraft if an off runway excursion occurs Realize that airport runway environments can vary tremendously Airports with scheduled air carrier service will almost always meet the exact standards Reliever business airports typically do meet the standards while some municipal airports might have waivers to some of the clear areas that can be waived by the FAA until fixed Pilots who have landed or departed from perfectly good runways that are hemmed in and may not meet ideal clearance standards understand the subtle nature of this effect Lighting and Precision Approach Path Indicators PAPIs The whole of runway lighting systems is generally understood by pilots to the degree necessary to get to the end of the runway on arrival The PIC may not be able to describe in detail the difference between an ALSF 1 and an ALSF 2 system but understands both lead up to the runway end and help determine the runway environment when descending below MDA or DH One recent technology development is the approval of light emitting diodes LED for aviation lighting systems A long development period was required to ensure the color and intensities of LED lighting met standards LEDs are approximately 10 more costly to install However the bulb life span is much greater than incandescent units and have a much lower current draw Public airports that qualify for federal airport improvement funding can get grants up to 90 of the installation cost but the operational cost is usually an unfunded airport expense Many smaller airports that could not afford the annual expense for power and replacement bulbs with incandescent systems now are looking to LED systems as a way to acquire an approach lighting system in the first instance or adding additional lighting to secondary or crosswind runways However LEDs dont come completely free of problems A lot of development was required to get the shading and intensity levels among the colors required white red green blue Another issue is heat or the lack thereof Incandescent lighting provides its own heat to help Imagery different EFVS concepts NASA Langley studies and trial experiments with combined vision systems are building experience with the value of different sensors The goal of these experiments is to obtain a seamless transition for landing with clear runway environment seen by the pilot in 300 ft RVR At the CVF Courchevel Airport the French Alps the extra width of the runway and its relative shortness confuse new pilots so that those unfamiliar with the strip think theyre coming in high when in fact they may be on an accurate approach path
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