Airport Lighting Questions

[chris341]

Hi all,

I make airports for use in Flight Simulator by Microsoft, mainly backdated to the 1960's and 70's. Currently working on JFK

I'm wondering if anyone happens to know when taxiway centerline and taxiway edge lighting became mainstream, mandated, invented, etc. for use at large airports?

Thanks,
Chris

[Tinstaafl]

Dunno - but I wish to hell they'd ditch blue taxiway sideline lights in favour of green centreline. At a strange airport, a carpet of 'blue pinprick...black area....blue pinprick....black area....blue pinprick....etc' (which black area is the one I'm supposed to taxi into?) is not as clear as 'follow the (green) breadcrumbs'. Fair enough blue boundary lights ie anywhere within the large area surrounded by blue is safe movement area, but that's not the same as a bunch of taxiways

[Musket90]

Don't know but I suspect it was in the 60's following successful CAT III "blind" landing trials. Fine when you land but how do you find your way around the taxiways to the parking stand.
Agree with blue edge light comments, but centreline lights are expensive to install so it's understandable not all airports have them if Cat I only.

[aerolearner]

Here you can find a good general summary of the early development of taxiway lighting systems:

www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA060259
Page 1-7 of document/Page 10-16 of .pdf, especially page 7 (page 10 of .pdf)

www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA117520
Page 5-10 of document/Page 13-18 of .pdf

[chris341]

Thanks aerolearner! That was exactly what I needed!

It seems edge lighting has been a thing since the mid-late 40's, but not widely used (with edge reflectors instead being preferred) until the mid-60's. Centerline lighting was mandated in 1972 for use primarily in CAT II or III conditions.

Thanks again!