Development of a Visual Aid to Indicate Temporary Runway Closure

Executive Summary

The purpose of this project was to develop a prototype visual aid to advise pilots that a runway is temporarily closed during visual meteorological conditions for both day and night operations, as recommended by Task Group 3-1.6 of the National Airspace Review.

Several prototype systems were constructed and subjected to preliminary evaluation. An array of nine spotlights in the shape of the letter "X" was selected for final evaluation. Subject pilots were asked to provide comments as to the effectiveness of the system.

Results of the evaluation indicated that the device provides an intuitive indication of a closed runway in adequate time for a pilot to execute a safe missed approach. The signal is effective during both straight-in and circling approaches.