Does anybody have a clue what this EFAS abbreviation might mean in the attached picture ? ( pertaining to approach lighting ) The only aeronautical abbreviation I can find is “Enroute Flight Information Service” and I’m sure this is completely irrelevant Attachment 4018
first_solo
23rd January 2018 15:58
electronic flash approach system,
IFixPlanes
23rd January 2018 16:03
Maybe:
Electronic Flash Approach Light System
C.M
23rd January 2018 16:07
Thank you very much .....one of the very rare moments were google didn’t do the job
Leonard Peletier
7th March 2022 03:40
Originally Posted by C.M
(Post 10029175)
Does anybody have a clue what this EFAS abbreviation might mean in the attached picture ? ( pertaining to approach lighting ) The only aeronautical abbreviation I can find is “Enroute Flight Information Service” and I’m sure this is completely irrelevant Attachment 4018
Yes. It's short for "Electronic Flash Approach System," which used "chasing" strobe lights to indicate to a pilot where he should try to touch down for a safe landing in poor visibility. It was created, I think, by Sylvania. I know Sylvania trained me to demonstrate the system around 1960 and my spiel included only references to Sylvania. A subsidiary or a partner company may have been the creator. I was fronting for Sylvania, alone, using a script outline and the literature.
I was not a pilot and my demonstrations consisted only of a narration, delivered while I operated an optical simulation to demonstrate the value of the system. I believe the system (or a related one) is now in near-universal use, worldwide. Another poster includes the word "Light" in his explanation. When I was involved, the word "light was not part of the name, being rather obvious, anyway. That word could logically have been used later ... but was not when I was involved.
chevvron
10th March 2022 09:47
Actually the US Navy developed a crude system of sequenced strobes just after WW2; the first such system for civil use was installed at JFK (then called Idlewild) in 1956 and has commonly been in use in the USA and at overseas US miilitary airfields ever since; Fairford (in the UK) r/w 27 is one example.