Lighting Airports and Runways with (Orange) Amber Lighting

soft amber lights for air port runway

Airport lighting plays a critical role in how well the airport functions. LED lighting can save money, improve safety, and make using the airport more pleasant.

Analysts expect the commercial airport lighting market to grow by 4.3% over the next five years. Is it time for a new lighting solution?

When you’re looking for new or replacement airport lighting, soft amber lights could be just what you need. Find out more about amber lighting and what it can do for you. You’ll be ready to find the best lights for your aviation facility.

What Types of Light Fixtures Do You See at an Airport?

Airports use many different types of light fixtures. From parking garages to cargo loading zones, each area has particular lighting needs. Lighting fixtures help ensure the safety and comfort of passengers and employees.

Area Lights

Area lights are some of the most common light fixtures you’ll see at an airport. They illuminate large or specific spaces. For example, you may find area lights in a parking lot.

Area lights come in different sizes, designs, and types. You can choose large or medium-sized area lights. You can also choose between medium and high-powered area lights.

Flood Lights

Flood Lights emit a wide swath of light. They can light a large area. You’ll find them in places like parking lots, loading docks, and storage facilities.

LED flood lights work in very hot or cold conditions. They can withstand dampness, and they don’t radiate heat.

Wall Packs

LED wall packs are the most common type of outdoor commercial light. They attach to the sides of buildings to illuminate areas next to the building, walkways, and streets.

Wall packs are very versatile. They attach to the wall in various ways. You can bring the wiring in from different directions too.

Wall packs can distribute the light out and down, only down or up and down. They’re available in different sizes as well. You can easily add options like motion sensors and photocells.

Canopy Lights

People often refer to canopy amber lights as parking garage lights. They mount to the ceiling, soffit, or overhang. You’ll find them in spaces like walkways, storage areas, and warehouses, as well as parking garages.

Canopy lights can be a surface, pendant, or recessed-mounted. You can choose different wattages depending on the size of the space you’re lighting.

Bollards

Bollards are lights on the top of bollard posts. They’re 3 to 4 feet tall and can have round or square tops. Bollards usually form a boundary, like blocking an area off from cars or marking the border of a public area.

Bollards give you the visibility of overhead lights and the easy maintenance of ground-level lights. You can choose medium or high-powered LED bollard lights.

What Kinds of Lights Do You See on the Runway?

Airport runways and taxiways have special lighting to mark them. These lights direct aircraft and vehicles using the airport. You’ll find soft amber light fixtures in several locations, communicating important information to pilots.

Taxiway Lighting

When a plane leaves the gate, the pilot must first taxi to the runway. The lighting system helps the pilot navigate the taxiways.

Taxiway edge lights are blue. Airports that are busy or experience frequent bad weather have green centerline lights as well.

Runway Lighting

Flashing amber lights warn pilots that they’re about to taxi onto the runway. In-ground flashing amber lights may also be installed on the runway hold-short line. They tell the pilot where to stop before crossing another runway.

These runway guard lights are an important safety feature.

Runway edge lights are another place where you’ll find amber lights. Edge lights mark the edges of the runway. These lights are white until the last 2000 feet when they change to amber.

Green lights mark the beginning of the runway. Red lights show the end.

Runways that often have low visibility have centerline lights. These lights are white until the last 3,000 feet of the runway, when they alternate white and red. The last 1,000 feet of the runway has red centerline lights.

A final place where you’ll find amber lights is the visual approach slope indicator (VASI). These lights tell the pilot if the aircraft is on the right glide path to descend to the runway.

A tri-color system uses amber lights to indicate that the plane is above the glide path. Red lights show that the plane is below the glide path. Green lights indicate that the aircraft is on the right glide path.

Advantages of Soft Amber Lights

Amber LED lights have an important signaling function on airport runways. Soft amber lights have several advantages for use in and around the rest of the airport.

Amber lighting gives you better contrast compared to white light. Amber light diffuses less in bad weather conditions than white light with high blue content. Less light bounces back into your eyes.

Amber light gives you better visibility and safety. This is especially important because airports need to operate safely at night and weather conditions like fog, rain, or snow.

Soft amber lights don’t attract insects like other types of artificial light. Most soft amber light is outside the visual range for insects. Insects don’t see the light, so they aren’t attracted to it.

You have safer conditions for personnel and aircraft. You also create a more environmentally-friendly environment.

Types of Amber Light Fixtures

Several types of soft amber lights are available. They’re well-suited for many uses at the airport.

Area Lights

LITELUME’s Amberlume Series Area Lights are a good choice for parking lots. They’re also a good option for aprons where aircraft park to load and unload cargo, passengers, and luggage.

Amberlume area lights come in two sizes and three wattages. You can choose from several different mounting configurations.

Wall Packs

The LITELUME’s Amberlume Series Wall Pack is available in small or medium sizes. Wall packs have many potential uses illuminating building exteriors, walkways, and roadways.

Amberlume wall packs are full cutoff, which means they only distribute the light downward. This helps prevent light pollution. You can mount the Amberlume wall pack at the height of 12 to 18 feet.

Canopy Lights

LITELUME Amberlume Series Canopy Square Low Profile lights are another versatile soft amber LED fixture. They can illuminate areas of the airport like walkways, warehouses, and parking garages.

These soft amber lights are available in two wattages and have a mounting height of 8 to 14 feet.

Bollards

LITELUME’s Amberlume Series Bollard Square Flat Top luminaires are made from textured architectural bronze. They have vandal-resistant lenses.

Amber bollards have many possible airport uses. They can mark walkways, pedestrian-only zones, and the boundaries of public areas.

Post Top

A final option for amber lighting is a LITELUME’ Amberlume Series Architectural Enclosed Post Top. Post tops can illuminate roads, parking lots, and walkways. They can also provide security lighting and area lighting.

Amberlume post tops mount to a pole top tenon. You can mount them at the height of 12 to 20 feet.

Choosing the Right Soft Amber Lights

Soft amber lights make the airport environment safer for employees and passengers. On the runway or elsewhere in the airport, amber lighting gives you advantages you won’t get from other types of light fixtures.

LITELUME’s has been providing commercial and industrial LED lighting solutions for over 25 years. We’ll work with you to find the right amber lighting for your airport applications.

Contact us today for a free consultation and see what a difference airport amber lighting can make.

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