The Airport Beacon

The Airport Beacon

Beacons are lighted to mark an airport. They are designed to produce a narrow horizontal and vertical beam of high-intensity light which is rotated about a vertical axis so as to produce approximately 12 flashes per minute for civil airports and 18 flashes per minute for military airports. The flashes with a clearly visible duration of at least 0.15 s are arranged in a white-green sequence for land airports and a whiteyellow sequence for landing areas on water. Military airports use a double white flash followed by a longer green or yellow flash to differentiate them from civil airfields. The beacons are mounted on top of the control tower or similar high structure in the immediate vicinity of the airport.

Obstruction Lighting

Obstructions are identified by fixed, flashing, or rotating red lights or beacons. All structures that constitute a hazard to aircraft in flight or during landing or takeoff are marked by obstruction lights having a horizontally uniform intensity duration and a vertical distribution design to give maximum range at the lower angles (1.5 o to 8 o ) from which a colliding approach would most likely come.