BATON ROUGE, La. – False River Regional Airport (HZR) recently received the 2012 Illuminating Engineering Society/Aviation Lighting Committee Award for Excellence for its solar-powered airfield lighting.
The award was presented to the owners of the airport — the False River Airpark Commission, the City of New Roads, and Pointe Coupee Parish — in addition to Yvonne Chenevert, False River Regional airport manager, and Allen Taylor, Louisiana Department of Transportation (DOTD) Airway Systems Manager. Taylor was the lighting system designer for the project, which was a partnership between the airport, DOTD and ADB Airfield Solutions.
Chenevert said, “We at the False River Regional Airport are honored to have been chosen for this award. I am so proud of this innovative airfield lighting system, which provides a safer, more reliable technology for our facility. I am grateful, as well, for our partnership with the state, which helped to make this possible.”
The False River Regional Airport is the first general aviation airport to utilize this type of technology in the field, she noted. The system consists of 160 LED taxiway edge lights that are installed flush with the ground. The LED lighting fixtures use Pulse-Width Modulation Technology (PWM) and are expected to last between 50 years or more, with a rated lifespan of approximately 100,000-200,000 hours. Each of the 160 traditional taxiway edge lighting system fixtures being replaced with LED were elevated and contained a quartz bulb using 45 watts with a rated lifespan of only 1,000 hours. The LED taxiway lighting system is powered by a solar panel, but it can also function with electrical power or diesel generator back-up, if necessary. The solar panels charge a battery bank, which can power the system up to 10 days with little or no sunlight. The system has been operating successfully on solar power since May 2010.
For more information: DOTD.la.gov
I put ~$100 worth of highway reflectors (colored appropriately) on the approach, runway end, runway sides and taxiways on the Tullahoma TN airport in the late 70’s. This allowed me to land using my landing light to outline the hard surfaces. Some more white reflecters on the left side of the approach end gave a 5° glide path and gross centerline (slightly offset to the touchdown area. Other pilots began to use it and seemed to be happy as it gave improved use during off hours. It has since been replaced by powered lights, but was a godsend to me at the time. Cost was minimal as you can see and only required a few hours and some sticks to mount the reflectors.
Thank you for the publication of this article. The False River Regional Airport is not only the first general aviation airport in the U. S. to utilize this type of technology but we are the first general aviation airport in the world to do so. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and ADB Airfield Solutions have worked very hard to perfect this system; our deepest appreciation is extended to them.