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Useful Information Regarding Lights For Heliport

By Walter Bell


Air traveling has so far been considered as the safest method of transport. However, attaining that level of safety needs a lot of planning and consideration. Each and every aspect that is involved in the flight has to be carefully planned starting from takeoff to landing. Several standards have been enacted to ensure the achievement and maintenance of safety in all situations. This is what Lights for heliport are all about.

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 allow helicopters to land and takeoff from any platform that is large enough to accommodate them. For instance, they can land and take off from watercrafts, buildings, battlefields, and other aircraft among other platforms. However, in order to do that, the area where they land and takeoff from must be demarcated in a special way for this very purpose.

The demarcated area where helicopters land is usually referred to as a helipad or heliport. It is usually designed in the form of a circle, with a capital letter H in the middle. According to standards, a heliport is required to have at least a single touchdown and liftoff area, also abbreviated as TLOF. The TLOF area is usually centered in the Final Approach and Takeoff area, abbreviated as FATO.

A safety perimeter area usually accompanies the FATO and TLOF areas. It is mandatory to have at least two or more paths for approach and departure. The area of the TLOF must be same as or exceed the diameter of the propeller of the largest helicopter that is required to land on the helipad. The FATO ought to be a minimal of 1.5 times longer that the length of a 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 perimeter of the TLOF should be defined with flush green lights that meet the standards defined by the FAA. In case the TLOF area is shaped like a square or a rectangle, each side must contain a minimum of four light fixtures. Each corner must have a light and the lights placed between the corner lights must be spaced uniformly.

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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