Helipad Lighting Clearly Marks Landing Surfaces

By Imelda Reid


Landing pads and platforms provide helicopters with a specific area for them to land. The helipad lighting on any landing pad plays a crucial role in safe and accurate landings. The platforms are clearly marked right on the hard surface so pilots know exactly where to land.

The FATO area of a landing pad, known as the take-off area and final approach, encompasses the TLOF area, which is known as the touchdown and lift-off area. Both these areas each have their own set of lighting, which is arranged in either a circle or square shape. Official groups like the International Civil Aviation Organization and the Federal Aviation Administration have recommended that all landing lights be white. However, yellow and amber lights used to be the standard, and are still used by many locations.

The owner and jurisdiction of the pad determine the color. The lights themselves are light-emitting diodes and provide brightness control, though they used to be singularly incandescent. All lighting must be accompanied with a lighting wind cone as well. If needed, the owner may want to add surface flood lights or lead-in lights to the TLOF and FATO areas as well.

Although 6.6A direct current power is normal for airports, helipads use AC power to operate their lightings. Another benefit is the automated ground-based controller that allows a pilot to radio control the lights. Visual slope guidance systems like HAPI and PAPI are also recommended, but many helipads don't have them because they are considered too pricey.

Many heliports and airports have helipads because they offer fuel, air traffic control, and service facilities that are all useful for aircraft. However, it is very costly to place so many helipads in these areas, and there is often not enough space for a lot. Police departments, however, have specific helipads on both these areas where they can place police helipads. Office towers have helipads on roofs for air taxis or emergency services like evacuations. Oil rigs and naval ships will often have helipads as well for transport and supplies.

Most hospitals have helipads on the premises for MEDEVACs and air ambulances to come and go. These are useful in transferring patients to trauma units, and also patients from remote regions where capable hospitals are not available. Most hospitals in urban areas install these pads on the roofs.

The U. S. Allows the FAA, ICAO, TC, and IATA to issue certain location identifiers for helipads on top of the large "H" sign. These are issues often, but aren't provided for every single helipad. They can also overlap in terms of helipads, and one helipad may have several identifiers in different names and formats.

Forest fire fighters sometimes build temporary timber-based helipads for easy access to supplies in remote areas. Rig mats can also be used to build a ground helipad. As you can tell, helipads don't have to be always built with concrete. However, they all have to be able to stay intact when extreme conditions like ice hit them. The rooftop pads are obviously a bit more vulnerable, and have 2 numbers signaling the amount of weight they can carry and the maximum rotor diameter it can encompass.




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