AIRCRAFT AND RUNWAY LIGHTING

SYSTEM
A PROJECT REPORT - PHASE -I (AI2681)
Submitted by

ABHINASH M
THARUN N B
ELANTHAI LINGA RAHUL D
SRIRAM K
SANJAY F A

Partial fulfillment for the award of the degree

Of
Bachelor of Science
In
AIRCRAFT AVIONICS ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF

AERONAUTICAL SCIENCE

HINDUSTAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE

PADUR CHENNAI -603103

 BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

Certified that this project report titled “AIRCRAFT AND RUNWAY

LIGHTING SYSTEM” is the bonafied work of “ABHINASH M,
THARUN N B, ELANTHAI LINGA RAHUL D, SRIRAM K,
SANJAY F A,” who carried out the project work under my supervision.
Certified further that to the best of my knowledge the work reported
here does not form the part of any other project/research work on the
basis of which a degree or award was conferred on an earlier on this or
any other candidate.

HEAD OF THE AERONAUTICAL DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR

DR.R ASOKAN MR.G.PALANISWAMY

PROFESSOR INSTRUCTOR

DEPARTMENT OF AERONAUTICS ENGINEERING AVIATION COLLEGE

HINDUSTAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND HINDUSTAN INSTITUTE

SCIENCE,PADUR. OF ENGINEERING

TECHNOLOGY,

PADAPPAI.

The project phase I viva-voce examination is held on .

INTERNAL EXAMINAR EXTERNAL EXAMINAR

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, I would like to thank Lord Almighty for

showering his blessings upon us in doing this project successfully.

It’s a matter of pride and privilege for us to express our deep gratitude
to the Vice Chancellor, Dr.S.N.Sridhara for giving us this opportunity
to bring out and implement our ideas in this project.

We wish to express our gratitude to Prof. Dr.R.Asokan, Head of the

Department of Aeronautical Engineering, for the valuable support
and encouragement in carrying out this work.

We would like to thank our guide MR.G.PALANISWAMY for continually

and actively participating in our project, giving valuable suggestions
to complete the project work.

Last but not the least we are deeply indebted to our parents and
friends who have been the greatest support while we worked day
and night for our project to make it a grand success.
PROJECT DETAILS
Aircraft lighting and Runway lighting
INTERIOR LIGHTING:
 COCKPIT LIGHT
 PASSANGER CABIN LIGHT
 CARGO COMPARTMENT LIGHT
 EMERGENCY LIGHT
EXTERIOR LIGHTING:
 LANDING LIGHT
 TAXING LIGHT
 NAVIGATION LIGHT
 ANTI COLLISION LIGHT
 SREOBE LIGHT
 WING INSPECTION LIGHT

RUNWAY LIGHTS
 RUNWAY LIGHTING
 RUNWAY CENTERLINE LIGHTING
 TAXIWAY CENTERLINE LIGHTING
 ELEVATED GUARD LIGHTS
 IN PAVEMENT GUARD LIGHTS
 RUNWAY END LIGHTS
INTRODUCTION TO AIRCRAFT LIGHTING
 Lighting is installed on aircraft for a number of reasons including
safety , operational needs , servicing and for the convenience of
passengers
 To illuminate interior of aircraft like cockpit, passengers cabin and
cargo compartment
 To indicate position of the aircraft to ATC and other aircrafts
 To illuminate runway during landing and taxiway

CLASSIFICATION
 INTERIOR LIGHT
 EXTERIOR LIGHT

INTERIOR LIGHTS
Interior lights can be broadly classified as follows

 COCKPIT LIGHT
 PASSANGER CABIN LIGHT
 CARGO COMPARTMENT LIGHT
 EMERGENCY LIGHT

COCKPIT LIGHT
The following are the lights used in cockpit
 INSTRUMENT PANEL LIGHTS
 INTEGRAL LIGHT
 CONSOLE LIGHT
 WANDER LAMP
INSTRUMENT PANEL LIGHT
It is mounted above the instrument panel on both the side (port
and starboard). It emits ultra violet light. Which is required for a pilot to
note the instrument reading properly.

INTEGRAL LIGHT
It is integrated inside the instrument and cb panel. so that the
panel lettering will be visible at night. These are made of very small
filament bulb.
CONSOLE LIGHT
It is mounted over the starboard side console and port side
console. It is a neon gas filled small tube light mounted over the
console to enable the pilot to see the switches and cb s properly. it is
operated with ac power supply.

WANDER LAMP
It is a portable lamp with wire. It can be used to watch the
instrument in case of failure in any lighting system. It can be fixed at the
holder base at different places in cockpit. It is operated with aircraft
battery.
PASSENGER CABIN LIGHTS
Independent lighting systems are used in the passengers
cabin. A combination of incandescent and fluorescent lights in
overhead and window positions provide general illumination. These
normally use AC power. Threshold and doorway entry lights are used as
well as a variety of illuminated information signs. Galley and lavatories
have their own lighting circuits. Overhead passenger service units
(psus) in each seat row contain independent reading lights and service
call lights for each seat. On the most modern aircraft such as the Boeing
777.

CARGO COMPARTMENT LIGHTING

Cargo and service compartments also have lighting. Dome lights,
flood lights and explosion-proof lights as required are installed with
independent circuits protected by circuit breakers. The lights are
controlled by switches near the entrance to each area or inside the
compartments. Door and door sill lights are positioned so that they
illuminate the cargo compartment doorway as well as the area just
outside the compartment to facilitate work while loading cargo.

EMERGENCY LIGHTING
Emergency lighting consists of internal and external lighting that is
provided for the passengers and crew in the event of an emergency
evacuation from the aircraft. External emergency lights provides
illumination of the over wing evacuation exit paths and exterior areas
around the passenger door and the service door. Internal emergency
lighting provides emergency lighting to the passenger cabin, emergency
exits and interior exit paths. The internal emergency lights include
lighted exit signs near the emergency exits at floor level, at eye level
and on the ceiling. There are ceiling flood lights installed along the
length of the passenger compartment and floor-level flood lights at the
passenger and service doors. Electroluminescent green lights, installed
along the floor next to the right side passenger seats, provide
illuminated escape path routing to the emergency exits. The
electroluminescent lights have orange overlays at the emergency exits.
EXTERIOR LIGHT
 LANDING LIGHT
 TAXING LIGHT
 NAVIGATION LIGHT
 ANTI COLLISION LIGHT
 SREOBE LIGHT
 WING INSPECTION LIGHT

LANDING LIGHT
It is mounted underneath the port wing joining with the fuselage or
before the nose wheel landing gear. It is used to illuminate the runway
during take off and landing at night. It is operated with dc power
supply. The wattage of the lamp is 450 watts. One more advantage of
this lamp is confirming the lockdown of all three landing gear wheels.
This is again confirmed by atc by watching through binocular.
TAXYING LIGHT
It is mounted underneath the port wing joining with the fuselage
or before the nose wheel landing gear. It is used to illuminate the taxi
way during taxing at night. It is operated with dc power supply. The
wattage of the lamp is 250 watts. This lamp also work when the landing
gear is locked down. This lamp is fitted with anti vibration mounting so
that the lamp does not get fused due to vibration created by the
aircraft.

NAVIGATION LIGHT
There are three lights for navigation. It is also called position light.
It is fitted in port wing tip, starboard wing tip and both the sides of tail.
These lamps can be operated with battery supply. The colour of lamp as
follows
red - port side wing tip
green - starboard side wing tip
white - both the side of tail
ANTI COLLISION LIGHT
There are two anti collision lights fitted in aircraft. One at top of
the fuselage and another one at bottom of fuselage. This light will be
red in colour and flashing approximately 40 to 100 flash per minute.
This lamp unit consist of one motor assembly and filament. The rotor
rotates and the flashing of lamp is created. This lamp indicates the
presence of aircraft to ATC and other aircraft.
STROBE LIGHT
A white strobe light is a second type of anti-collision light that is
also common. Usually mounted at the wing tips and, possibly, at
empennage extremities, strobe lights produce an extremely bright
intermittent flash of white light that is highly visible. The light is
produced by a high voltage discharge of a capacitor. A dedicated power
pack houses the capacitor and supplies voltage to a sealed xenon-filled
tube. The xenon ionizes with a flash when the voltage is applied.

WING INSPECTION LIGHT

Some aircraft are equipped with wing inspection lights to illuminate
the leading edge of the wings to permit observation of icing and
general condition of these areas during flight. These lights permit visual
detection of ice formation on wing leading edges while flying at
night.They are usually controlled through a relay by an on/off toggle
switch in the cockpit. Some wing inspection light systems may include
or be Supplemented by additional lights, sometimes called nacelle
lights, that illuminate adjacent areas, such a cowl .flaps or the landing
gear.
 INTRODUCTION TO RUNWAY LIGHTING

Aircraft lighting system helps pilots to do landing and takeoff

safely at night, or in low visibility conditions. The lights are controlled
by a Control tower, a flight service station or another designated
authority. Some airports/airfields (particularly uncontrolled ones) are
equipped with Pilot controlled lighting, so that pilots can temporarily
turn on the lights when the relevant authority is not available. This
avoids the need for automatic systems or staff to turn the lights on at
night or in other low visibility situations. This also avoids the cost of
having the lighting system on for extended periods. Smaller airports
may not have lighted runways or runway markings. Particularly at
private airfields for light planes
RUNWAY LIGHTING
Single row of white lights bordering each side of runway and
lights identifying the runway threshold

Three Intensity Levels:

 High Intensity(HIRLs)
 Medium Intensity(MIRLs)
 Low Intensity (LIRLs)

High intensity white strobe lights placed on each side of the

runway to mark the threshold. Runway lights are White in colour and
Taxiway lights are Blue in colour
RUNWAY CENTERLINE LIGHTING
Runway Centerline lighting is used to provide pilots with
alignment guidance during takeoff and landing operations, primarily
during low visibility conditions. Runway centerline lights are spaced at
50-foot intervals on large precision runways to improve visibility. When
viewed from the landing threshold, the runway centerline lights are
white until the last 3,000 feet of the runway. The white lights begin to
alternate with red for the next 2,000 feet, and for the last 1,000 feet of
the runway, all centerline lights are red. The installation of runway
centre line lights will enhance safety for an aircraft landing or taking-off
in adverse weather conditions or during night.
TAXIWAY CENTERLINE LIGHTING
Taxiway centerline lights are Green in colour. Taxiway centerline
lead-on lights provide visual guidance to persons entering the runway.
These "lead-on" lights are also color-coded with the same color pattern
as lead-off lights to warn pilots and vehicle drivers that they are within
the runway environment or ILS critical area.

ELEVATED RUNWAY GUARD LIGHTS

Elevated guard lights are used to identify the holding position for a
runway especially at night and during periods of low visibility and are
about to enter an active runway. Used to enhance the hold bar and
elevated signs.
IN PAVEMENT GUARD LIGHTS
In-pavement Runway Guard Lights are a series of alternate-
flashing yellow, unidirectional in-pavement lighting fixtures equally
spaced along a runway holding position marking that are only visible to
aircraft approaching the hold position from the taxiway side of the
fixture.

RUNWAY END LIGHTS

unidirectional (facing approach direction) or omnidirectional pair
of synchronized flashing lights installed at the runway threshold, one
on each side. A pair of four lights on each side of the runway on
precision instrument runways, these lights extend along the full width
of the runway. These lights show green when viewed by approaching
aircraft and red when seen from the runway.
VISUAL APPROACH SLOPE INDICATER(VASI)
A visual approach slope indicator system is a system consisting of
four light units situated on the left side of the runway in the form of
two wing bars referred to as the upwind and downwind wing bars. The
aircraft is on slope if the upwind bar shows red and the downwind bar
shows white, too high if both bars show white, and too low if both bars
show red. Some aerodromes serving large aircraft have three-bar
VASIS, which provide two visual glide paths (GP) to the same runway.
PRECISION APPROACH PATH INDICATOR(PAPI)
A precision approach path indicator (PAPI) uses lights similar to the
VASI system except they are installed as four lights in a single row,
normally on the left side of the runway. However, depending upon the
runway / taxiway configuration, the PAPI can be located on the right as
shown in the picture above. An aircraft is on the appropriate glide path
when two of the lights are red and two are white. Three red lights
indicate that the aircraft is below and four red lights indicate that the
aircraft is well below the nominal flight path. Conversely, three white
lights indicate that the aircraft is above and four white lights indicate
that the aircraft is well above the flight path.
THANK YOU

END

OF

REPORT