Airfields 1. Improving Ramp Worker Safety With Lit Gate Lead in Lines
LEDline® safety/guidance units are By far the Least Expensive and most versatile of Airfield Visual Aids.
LEDline® is Visible In Any Weather!
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LEDline® safety/guidance lighting is installed with a saw cut machine and glue in days not weeks or months. depending on the weather, Five (5) people with one (1) saw-cut machine should be able to retrofit and install some 118 x LEDline® safety/guidance lamps, with their power supplies and controls, in about five (5) days, Therefore, LEDline® Is Far Less Cost! How long would 118 x standard airfield lamps cost and how long would it take to install all the required construction site equipment and all the operational avoidance requirements? It would take months not days!!
Bad weather plays a major role in slowing down airfield operations and airports; this costs everyone both time and money!
- It does not matter if it's rain, snow, fog, or dust, at night, in bad weather, pilots and drivers on airfields, have great difficulty following painted visual aid markings. Therefore, relying on such painted markings in bad weather; • slows down aircraft and other operations as pilots and drivers try to ensure they are following the difficult-to-see painted guidance lines and paths; • slows operations, immediately reducing the airfields and terminal/s capacity. Such reduced capacity means more airfield and terminal delays, which all continue to impact operations, even when the weather improves;
- • causes increased accidents, especially around busy terminals. Issues, such as increased wingtip collisions can occur when tug drivers cannot see the painted markings and accidentally push the aircraft out crookedly.
- • can certainly impact surface vehicles around terminals, which for aircraft and other vehicle safety, are supposedly following pre-determined painted marking routes around the busy airfield/terminals. However, if the painted markings cannot be seen, such vehicles may wander or take shortcuts into areas where they are not supposed to be, which can cause accidents. • It is important, particularly around busy terminals, to have pavement markings visible in any weather. Having inexpensive, easily installed lit LEDline® around the terminals significantly helps minimize bad weather delays at minimal cost, by;
- • making key painted markings visible in any weather, reduces possible bad weather accidents like wingtip collisions;
- • minimizing aircraft turnaround times; • reducing airfield and airlines' bad weather lost time, so reducing the following good weather
- catch-up times; • improving bad weather airfield safety and capacity; All OF THE ABOVE SAVES EVERYONE TIME AND MONEY!
Lit Gate Lead-in Lines At Anchorage International: Here, the deep snow has covered all of the painted pavement markings, yet the old-style green FAA taxiway way visual aids on the left, (incandescent bulbed so more heat than light) melt snow.
The old-style yellow linear LEDline® on the right, (they only had 6 x LEDs), also melts the snow. Both are visible, providing the necessary key guidance when aircraft and vehicles most need it.
Pictures by Chas Triborn.
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LEDline® Safety/guidance lighting Uses:
Non-Movement Airfield LEDline® safety guidance Use:
Non-Movement Areas: LEDline® is used for all sorts of inexpensive lit in-pavement markings in non-movement areas, such as;• lit lead-in lines to gates; • lit guidance lines for surface vehicles around terminals;• lit aircraft visual aid guidance through de-icing pads;• lit aircraft guidance in overnight aircraft parking areas;• lit in-pavement signage, to help guide aircraft and vehicles anywhere;• lit guidance through refueling areas.
All of the above-lit guidance helps to reduce accidents in and around terminals in non-movement areas, which often do not require FAA/CAA permissions.
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- Lit LEDline® Gate Lead In Lines Allows For;
- • Inexpensive Lit Lead-in Lines to Gates: Since LEDline® is easily installed via a simple saw cut 50mm (1.7") deep x
- 60mm (2.4") wide pavement groove and glue, approx. 60% less cost compared to standard point source inset
- lights;
- • Advance notice when an aircraft is pushed out from a gate: To improve aircraft, ramp worker and wing walker safety,
- when set to flashing, LEDline® can be used to warn passing vehicles and aircraft when an aircraft is
- being pushed out of a gate. Here, to improve ramp worker safety, the tug driver can set the lights to flash so that
- Everyone knows that an aircraft is being pushed out and that they should look out for the wing walkers.
- • Improved Aircraft Safety: Tug drivers can not always see the painted pavement gate markings in bad weather. This can lead to aircraft wing tip accidents and damage as aircraft are not pushed out straight. However, lit LEDline®
- safety guidance lead-in lines are visible in any weather. Therefore, they ensure that the guidance is always visible,
- minimizing possible wingtip collision accidents; • Improved Gate Safety: Air terminal floodlighting causes large shadows under aircraft, particularly wide-bodied aircraft. These shadows impact gate security and employee safety as people working under the aircraft are
- difficult to see. Lit LEDline® safety lead-in lines provide lighting underneath aircraft so anyone there is visible. This
- provides for faster aircraft turnaround times, reducing jet fuel usage, which lowers airline costs;
- • LEDline®'s Quick Installation, Minimizes Gate Downtimes: Many gate LEDline® grooves can be all saw cut at the same time, as the saw cut width is only 60mm (2.4") wide x 45mm (1.7") deep, so even when left open, the saw cuts
- are not a hazard to any aircraft or vehicle. Therefore, the gates with the open saw cuts can still be operational. Only
- one gate at any time ever needs to be closed for 24 hours, and that is to allow the LEDline® installation glue to set. • LEDline® improves Gate Safety and efficiency by minimizing bad weather delays, saving time and money.
LEDline® enhances safety for ramp workers, ground crews, and wing walkers. It also improves aircraft safety by reducing wingtip collisions.
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At Anchorage International, the snow has covered up all of the painted pavement markings, yet the lit, yellow LEDline® safety/guidance lighting, (old style, with only 6 x LEDs), is still clearly visible. (Note: Today's solid LEDline® safety/guidance units have 12 x embedded LEDs so are much brighter and still melt snow).
Use of Movement Area LEDline® Safety/Guidance Lighting: (Requires FAA or CAA approval).
In Movement Areas, securing permission from the FAA and other CAAs is essential before using LEDline® safety and guidance lighting. When used alongside FAA and ICAO Annex 14 standards, LEDline® enhances airfield safety by improving the visibility of pavement markings in all weather, boosting pilots' guidance and situational awareness. We encourage the FAA and CAAs to adopt LEDline® lighting for improved safety for all. Together, we can create a brighter, safer future! as it enhances guidance and improves pilots' situational awareness.
LEDline® Could be Used As In-pavement Guidance At FAA Hot Spots.
- Use LEDline® In Movement Areas as an addition to, supplement, or enhancement to Movement Area Visual Aids, For;
- • FAA Hot Spots: To physically mark FAA Hot Spots, use LEDline® In-pavement signage and guidance for improved pilot
- situational awareness!
- • key taxiway and runway painted signs to supplement, support, and enhance the standard painted pavement markings,
- outline key pavement signs and use lit taxiway/runway signage and numbers which, unlike paint, are visible in any
- weather;
- • green taxiway center line guidance. Provided the standard taxiway blue edge lights are present, then supplementing
- their guidance with linear green LEDline® units would provide the ICAO optional centerline guidance at far less cost;
- • temporary signage on moveable platforms indicating closed sections of the airfield; use LEDline®;
- • wigwags; to help the wigwags be more clearly seen, use lit in-pavement LEDline® wigwags across the whole
- taxiway width, flashing with the taxiway edge wigwags. This way, the wigwags would be much more conspicuous,
- and potentially help reduce runway incursions.
- • smaller aircraft, highlight early runway exits onto taxiways. Here, lit arrows set into the runway pavement could indicate the early runway exits to taxiways, so the smaller aircraft don't hold up the landings of any of the following heavies that need to use the whole runway to stop. All of the above uses of LEDline® are supplemental to and are there to enhance the standard ICAO Movement Area
- visual aids. They increase the safety, capacity, and efficiency of airfields, especially in bad weather. And, as nothing is
- removed, the supporting lit signage and guidance allow airfields to be in full ICAO compliance!
Flush in-pavement LEDline® would eliminate the airfield sea of blue edge light confusion, so only pilots on their particular taxiways would see their taxiway blue edge lights.
gREEN LEDline® SAFETY GUIDANCE at Anchorage International
as Guidance through their Refueling Area.
The green LEDline® Taxiway Lighting is as visible as any standard FAA / ICAO GREEN Taxiway visual aid AND being linear, PROVIDES FOR BETTER GUIDANCE.
(Note: additional linear LEDline® Units can provide for elongated visual aids of any length).
illuminating Engineering Society (IES) Aviation Lighting Committee Fall Technology Meeting
26 October 2016 "Linear Airfield Lighting Evaluations: From the Laboratory to the Field".
A Research presentation on linear visual aids demonstrates that the longer the lit visual aids, the more pilots prefer linear directional guidance compared to point sources).
A SINGLE-POINT SOURCE CAN ONLY PROVIDE POSITIONAL INFORMATION TO VIEWERS, A SINGLE LINEAR LEDLINE® UNIT, being linear, PROVIDES BOTH POSITIONAL AND DIRECTIONAL GUIDANCE to viewers.
As A Comparison below GREEN LEDline® taxiway SAFETY/GUIDANCE LIGHTING is used right next to
standard Green FAA Taxiway Lights.
MOVEMENT AREAS: Most Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA); ICAO; FAA, Transport Canada, etc., are familiar with linear LEDline® SAFETY/GUIDANCE. Because it is linear and is an area luminance source, it is not a point source, they have difficulties in measuring the light output. YET being linear, it demonstratively provides better directional guidance,
(a single LEDline® unit provides for both position and direction).
As such, it has yet to be approved for Movement Areas. Therefore, local CAA authorities must provide permission to use LEDline® safety/guidance in Movement Areas, and requests to use it there should make it clear that it is being used to supplement and enhance the standard taxiway/runway SAFETY SIGNAGE and painted markings.
(Note: The research presentation on linear visual aids, demonstrates that the longer the lit visual aid, the better pilots prefer the guidance compared to point sources. Presented to the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) Aviation Lighting Committee Fall Technology Meeting 26 October 2016 "Linear Airfield Lighting Evaluations: From the Laboratory to the Field". The longer the visual aid, the faster were the pilot's acquisition. Presented to the IES Committee by; John D. Bullough (RPI Lighting Research Center), Shawn Pruchnicki (Ohio State University), Seth Young (Ohio State University), Garrison Canter (CSRA, Inc.) )
From all of the FAA's previous research into linear visual aids and the presented Ohio State University field research and our experience (with e-mails from early LEDline® use; ion. Pilots prefer linear visual aids and the directional guidance they receive.
Additional Information is Available at HIL-Tech Ltd. at nhutchins@cogeco.ca
Unless otherwise stated, all Pictures, Videos, Files, and Texts are the Copyright of HIL-Tech Ltd.LEDline® is a Registered Trademark of HIL-Tech Ltd.