Saturday, November 10, 2018

Useful Information About Helipad Lighting Suppliers And Installation

By Andrew Jackson


Helicopters have designated areas on which they land on. These areas can be either on water, land or a structure. These areas are referred to as heliports. Heliports can also be defined as small airports for specific use by other vertical lift platforms besides helicopters. A vertical lift platform is an aircraft that lands and takes off from the ground in a vertical position. Horizontal distance is not required for them to take off or land on the ground. Here are facts regarding helipad lighting suppliers.

Typically, designated heliports usually have one or multiple liftoff and touchdown areas. They may also have certain facilities such as hangars and fuel sources. If the platform is located in a large city or town, it may have customs facilities for clearance and forwarding of cargo. When heliports were first being introduced, advocates hoped that they would become widely adopted, but that has never happened up to now.

Heliports are not widespread because helicopters produce a lot of noise during landing and takeoff. The noise produced by helicopters is considered noise pollution and it is not suitable for an urban setting. The level of noise produced by a fleet of helicopters can be very distressing. This is one of the reasons the number of heliports in most big cities is limited. These heliports are also small in size.

A heliport is also known as a helistop, helipad or a helideck. Helipads need to be installed with lights that meet existing aerospace requirements for them to be used at night. There are strict aerospace standards that need to be observed by all helistops. The task of ensuring that all helipads in a given area have the necessary lighting is done by the local aeronautical body.

The TLOF area is where the heliport perimeter lights are mostly installed. The TLOF can be used to flush mount the perimeter lights. Mounting of lights off the TLOF perimeter is done on extensions that are short and can be made of concrete or metal. Two alternatives of lighting usually exist, that is, apart from the TLOF area being lit, lighting can also be done in the FATO area.

For the FATO area to be lit instead of the TLOF area, there are certain conditions that must be met. Also, if certain environmental conditions exist, then both the FATO and TLOF area may be lit at the same time. Generally, lighting used on a helipad is not supposed to cause any kind of obstruction to the helicopter during landing or take off.

To prevent obstruction from light, the United States has enforced certain laws. For example, extension of light systems by over 2 inches above the FATO or TLOF is not allowed. A requirement to use green lights on the perimeter is also enforced strictly. Night vision goggles were determined to be interfered with by incandescent and amber lighting which were in use before.

Surface operations on heliports are enhanced by the use of flood lights. The use of flood lights is however limited to ground operations since they can cause interference with flight operations. LED lights are becoming very popular due to the fact that they have low power consumption and increased durability.




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