Installation Criteria for Taxiway Centerline Lights

Details

• Creators:
  Patterson, James W.
• Corporate Creators:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration. William J. Hughes Technical Center. Airport and Aircraft Safety Research and Development Division.
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration. Office of Aviation Research and Development
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Center Lines Evaluation Geometric Curves Lighting Taxiing Taxiways
• Publication/ Report Number:
  DOT/FAA/AR-TN06/6
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  Technical Note
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration. William J. Hughes Technical Center
• Abstract:
  The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Advisory Circular (AC) 150/5340-30, “Design and Installation Details of Airport Visual Aids,” requires that properly installed taxiway centerline fixtures should, when placed on a taxiway curve with radii between 75 and 399 feet, maintain that three lights are visible from the cockpit, provide information to the pilot on how sharp the curve is, provide the pilot with an indication of how far off the taxiway centerline the aircraft might be, and visually look the same from both directions of travel. Typically, the FAA type L-852D taxiway centerline fixture is spaced at 12.5 feet when placed on a taxiway curve with radii between 75 and 399 feet. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) version of the taxiway centerline fixture, which is designed specifically for curved applications, is spaced at 25 feet when placed on the same taxiway curve. The objective of this research was to determine what would happen if the FAA type L-852D taxiway centerline fixture was placed at a spacing of 25 feet; the same spacing as the ICAO fixture. To perform this evaluation, a series of six FAA type L-852D fixtures and six ICAO fixtures were temporarily installed on the ramp area of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center. Each set of lights was positioned such that they represented a taxiway centerline curve with a 75-foot radius, spaced at 25 feet. Taxiing tests were performed over each set of lights to determine if each set met the requirements set forth in AC 150/5340-30. The results showed that the FAA type L-852D taxiway centerline fixtures did not meet the requirements of the AC, because it was not possible to see the minimum three lights from the cockpit. This was attributed to the narrow beam spread of the fixtures, and the fact that the fixtures are not designed specifically for curved applications. The ICAO fixture met all the requirements of AC 150/5340-30.
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center for Advanced Aerospace
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8191a4d56827eeb8f3c4e40f58015a57a6a536a6651fd28d7d44762df2117608d383170e43abcd8d3389e90b66cd29ee2b339ec06acb1e4e3cf7b6f3a8ab0ceb
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/89914/dot_89914_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 274.89 KB ]