Wednesday 24 April 2019

Useful Information Regarding Lights For Heliport

By Walter Bell


Travel by air has for a long time been considered the safety mode of transport. However, achieving such a level of safety takes a lot of consideration and planning. Every aspect of the flight beginning with takeoff to landing has to be planned carefully. There are several standards that have been enacted to ensure that safety is achieved and maintained at all times. Here are facts regarding Lights for heliport.

The FAA is the government body in the United States that is tasked with introduction and also enforcement of laws in the aviation industry. Helicopters are special aircrafts with no fixed wings. Helicopters are able to land and take off using their rotors. The propellers enable them to take off and land without the need of runways.

This ability enables the landing and takeoff of helicopters from any platform that has enough size to accommodate them. For instance, landing and taking off can happen on watercrafts, battlefields, buildings and aircrafts among other platforms. However, to be able to do this, the intended area for landing and taking off should be uniquely demarcated for this function.

A designated space for helicopters to land is normally called a heliport or a helipad. Normally, it is made in a circular shape with a capital letter H drawn at the center. The set standards require that a heliport should have a minimum of one touchdown and liftoff area which is shortened as TLOF. The TLOF is normally centered in the Final Approach and Take Off area, shortened as FATO.

The TLOF and FATO areas must be accompanied by a peripheral safety area. This area must have two or more departure and approach paths. The length of the TLOF area must be equal to or more that the rotor diameter of the largest helicopter that is expected to use the helipad. On the other hand, the FATO must be at least 1.5 times longer that the length of the helicopter.

There should be adequate and suitable lighting in the safety peripheral area, TLOF and FATO for visibility when pilots want to leave or are approaching the helipad. There must be lighting in the night too. Night time lighting should be put on taxiways, taxi routes, TLOF, FATO and the windsocks. Other necessary and useful visual aids that should be installed include floodlights, landing direction lights, heliport approach path indicator, heliport identification beacon and taxiway lights.

The periphery around the TLOF must be demarcated with flush green lights that comply with standards set by FAA. If the TLOF is shaped like a square or rectangle, the sides should have at least four light fittings. All the corners should also have lights. The lights that are placed in between corner lights should be evenly spaced.

If the TLOF is shaped like a circle, then there should be a minimum of eight uniformly spaced light fixtures defining it. The same lighting used in the TLOF area should also be used in the FATO area. The lights must be colored green and have a candela similar to that of the TLOF area.




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