Pilot Controlled Lighting - UK
 

Does anyone know where in the southern part of the UK (around east anglia and london area) offer pilot controlled lighting??? There is one place in Norfolk, but due to Nimby's looks like they will never use it.

Anyone got ideas?

VFR

I heard of a strip near Ongar which had this, but that was years ago.

Ahhh!! I do love these things.

A few clicks for the PAPIs/VASIs, and a few more clicks to turn on the runway lights... :ok:

I'm not aware of any in the UK.

Seething has PCL, but they refuse to use it :ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh:

The UK really sucks at times :rolleyes:

VFR

It is widely reputed to be illegal as far as the CAA is concerned, though I have no idea if this is true.

Obviously, for a private strip, you would just do it and not tell anybody. However a smarter and more secure way might be to use SMS control - there are various boxes on the market (example) which will turn things on/off using SMS. I have one right next to me, enabling various routers/switches to be reset with an SMS.

Did the strip on Bute not have PCL for the air ambulance to use?

Yes indeed Loganair used PCL lighting on Bute.

Pilot / radio controlled ground lighting is not unusual in the rotary world.

The bill for some lights is insignificant provided the thing is on a timer.

Maybe they had abuse from flyers-by. In that case, use the SMS solution, and register only specific caller numbers to operate it. Faking a caller ID on GSM is virtually impossible.

We have them.

The CAA position a few years ago was that the frequency band was allocated to voice communications by the ITU and that switching things on and off is not voice comms. The guy who set this policy is now long gone from the CAA so maybe things have changed and a more practical view may be held.

And yet they allowed radios with squelch. Sounds like double standards to me.

Just out of interest how much does it cost to install the equipment that would upgrade bog standard lighting like we have in the UK to PCL.

About $1000 plus fitting - Pilot Controlled Lighting

If you want petty then the Wireless Telegraphy Act is the place to find it. I was wondering about the legality of MCW (A2A) transmissions in a band authorised for AM telephony (A3E) and datalink (ACARS) but, as yet, I have not found any definitive requirements on the Ofcom website as to permitted modulation types in the VHF aeronautical mobile band and so have been keeping my powder dry.

Where's Whopity when you need him?

Didn't the Cons promise to shut down Ofcom?

For the CAA, the problem with PCL at licensed aerodromes, lies with a cheeky little paragraph in our favourite bedtime read; CAP168:ok: In particular the controlling words are in Chapter 6.

A sumptuous prize to the first Forumite to quote it:)

Sir George Cayley

I would guess that CAP168, 11.1.3
"The control of an AGL system from beyond the boundary of a licensed aerodrome will only be approved by the CAA for the sole use of the emergency services. Where this type of control is desired, an operational requirement proposed by the aerodrome authority and supported by the emergency services involved should be submitted in the first instance to the CAA."
would effectively preclude pilot controlled lighting?
:ugh:

I think you'll find it's Chapter 6 para 11.1.3

The control of an AGL system from beyond the boundary of a licensed aerodrome will only be approved by the CAA for the sole use of the emergency services. Where this type of control is desired, an operational requirement proposed by the aerodrome authority and supported by the emergency services involved should be submitted in the first instance to the CAA.

And

11.1.4
When in use, the operational status of the AGL system should be continuously monitored. An appropriate means of detecting an AGL system failure or fault and other serviceability information should be provided. The AGL system serviceability information should be provided to the AGL operator in a simple but accurate and concise way, so that if necessary the user may pass a report to flight crew. The report should enable flight crew to determine whether the AGL meets their current operational flight requirements or not (see paragraph 11.3.5).

We fell foul of this when we wanted to provide the AGL for public transport helis operating outside the published aerodrome hours.

But surely this is pure bollox.

Mandating the wearing of pink underpants would be as relevant to flight safety.

How can somebody come up with this "regulatory" garbage and keep a straight face?

If one could turn runway lights OFF remotely, that would not be so clever. But turning lights ON ??? :ugh:

It annoys that when conducting a night nav exercise in a single engine piston and the donk quits (Obviously this isn’t the Rotax more reliable aircraft cause that’s not approved for night flight). I’m smack overhead an active aerodrome but I have to ditch in the blackness cause it doesn't have PCL – madness.

You might want to redact that. :)

OK, that seems to cover licensed aerodromes but what about the (increasing) majority of airfields that are not subject to CAP168? The CAA has no control over the use of radio at unlicensed airfields - that's a matter for Ofcom, however it might be re-named in the future.

Why?............

There appear to be no particular restrictions at unlicensed fields ... which is why Bose-X can post with no worries on this particular subject.

The more annoying part is that even when when airports permit 'unlicensed' after hours operations they are still licensed aerodromes from the perspective of not allowing PCL. My local field has PCL, but only for the copper chopper.

Not true, I'm afraid. Take a look at ANO Article 205/206 and the radio station licensing procedures applied by the Directorate of Airspace Policy.

And CAP 168 is a document published by the CAA setting out rules and so on in order to implement its obligations and policies. To that end, CAP 168 Chapter 6 para 11.1.3 (and many other references) are there because the CAA wants them to be there.

Sadly it is a top secret frequency (not the info frequency) and in the interest of safety .... Special Branch will have to kill you if I let you know what it is ;)

Ok, poorly worded, perhaps. Radio licensing is the responsibility of Ofcom, including the terms and conditions under which the licence is issued. Some parts of this responsibility may be delegated to other agencies, such as responsibility for the FRTOL being delegated to the CAA, but the responsibility remains with Ofcom as detailed in the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 and the Communications Act 2003.

The problem I see with PCL is that, to avoid pranksters, one should use a different frequency, but which one? One cannot just pick one at random...

An SMS controller is far better. Texts work fine below about 2000-3000ft.

What would be the market? I have a product which accepts SMS to control things, but does not currently have a relay contact. This could be added though.

They have it at my favorite strip Badminton! Mind you for the couple of times the Earl uses it, £2060 for Spectrum Pricing will make it an expensive landing. If an aircraft calls to announce its arrival, how could connecting the receiver of that signal to a lighting system be illegal? The alternative would be the Armstrong method, where his lordship's butler pulls a handle in the palace connected by a suitable system of gears and linkages to the lighting switch at the airfield when he hears the aircraft transmit.

CAP168 has no legal status and contains the following statement:

I know it's some time away to us impatient, devil may care, flying types but a satisfactory resolution to this problem approaches............


....and I never thought I'd say this, but it's.........





EASA :eek:


See they have a different idea about regulation and litter their regs with AMCs. Alternate Means of Compliance. Seems to me that coming up with some Euro-babble to satisfy Cologne shouldn't be beyond our collective wit.

BTW Rogerp, You win - well done. I've sent you a sumptuous ice lolly!

Sir George Cayley

Sir George,

You know that old saying, 'be careful what you wish for.......'

Who needs lights at a grass strip at night. I always managed with a mate at the
side of the threshold with his headlights on.

If you can't see the strip at 50ft then time to go elsewhere.

Some of you guys should try outback flying in Australia sometime.

Sorry to resurrect, but with the long nights and short days of January, this is of more practical concern than back in June. I just gently enquired whether there is any chance in the future for PCL at Kemble (sorry, Cotswold), and was told rather emphatically that this is TOTALLY ILLEGAL in the UK, even for unlicensed airfields. According to the AIP entry for Kemble, "Aerodrome lighting does not conform to CAP168 and is not available for licensed operations", yet lighting can be used unlicensed by coughing up £150+ for someone in the tower to switch it on.


So there we have it: the lighting does not conform to CAP168, but can be used, whereas PCL also does not conform to CAP168, and is therefore illegal.... :ugh:

Can anyone come up with some legal obstacle other than CAP168? Of course, there are other obvious commercial reasons why airfields might not want PCL (for which I have some sympathy), but it would be good to know the truth why something almost universally available in the US is (almost?) unavailable in the UK.

I enjoyed landing 15 minutes again in the dark after 5 presses of the button.....:p:p:p

Here in Sweden PCL is very common and typically on the TWR freq (or the traffic frequency if the field has no TWR). A 15 minute timer is common. When I was working on my NQ flying circuits at an airfield with PCL (ESSU, if anybody cares) I got a nice surprise when the lights went out on short final. Nothing to do but go around, ofc.

The CAA's concern about the integrity of the lighting system - including getting them switched on - is easily dealt with by mandating an alternate if PCL is planned to used or, alternatively, holding fuel + a responsible person able to switch the lights on manually. That's what Oz does.

Typical CAA bull!!!!.

Very much so.

If I had my own strip I would do it quietly, and possibly use SMS instead. SMS works OK below about 2000ft.

Pressing the PTT button is rather easier than fumbling around with a mobile phone trying to send an SMS. And of course, as we all know, the latter would interfere with the aircraft's navigation systems and you'd end up in the wrong place! ;)

In South Eastern France, it is CAA policy to ensure that as many airfields as possible have pilot controlled lighting. They deal with the integrity issue by checking the bulbs work once in a while, and installing a backup generator. They then mess it up by reserving night operations to locally based aircaft in too many places, but at least you can arrive back home without problems.

IO540, as you no doubt know using your mobile whilst airborne is also illegal, but for much better reasons than PCL being so, which may well seem no more than pointless Blinkered British Bureaucratic Bollix. (and its got nothing to do with messing with your nav kit either)

Hotel Mama and others, the "truth" is very simple. The VHF a/g frequencies are allocated (by whoever allocates the electromagnetic spectrum, ie not the CAA) for voice comms only. PCL is signalling which (surprise!) is a different classification to voice, ergo; illegal. Anywhere else such distinctions might be ignored, but you ain't anywhere else, so it sticks. Elsewhere people tend to be sufficiently responsible to use such things correctly, here we seem to have a way of taking the p!ss out of such concessions. It wouldn't be long before some berk started using PCL for starting his central heating or sending burst transmissions to a fax machine, so the bureaucratic mind just says, "No!".