Runway edge lights

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title: "Runway edge lights" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["airport-lighting"] description: "Lighting system used to identify the perimeter of an airport runway" topic_path: "general/airport-lighting" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runway_edge_lights" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Lighting system used to identify the perimeter of an airport runway ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Landing_at_Zurich_International_Airport.jpg" caption="An aircraft landing at [[Zurich Airport]], with runway edge lights visible"] ::

Runway edge lighting is used to outline the edges of runways during periods of darkness or restricted visibility conditions. These light systems are classified according to the intensity they are capable of producing:

• High intensity runway lights (HIRL)
• Medium intensity runway lights (MIRL)
• Low intensity runway lights (LIRL)

Many HIRL and MIRL systems have variable intensity controls, whereas the LIRLs normally have one intensity setting. At airports where there is a control tower, the tower will manage the lights to account for visibility and pilot preference, but some airports do not have control towers. These airports will have Pilot Controlled Lighting, or PCL, where pilots can adjust the lighting themselves by keying a microphone button a certain number of times.

The majority of runway edge lights are clear or white, but there are some exceptions to provide additional information to pilots in certain circumstances.

When an instrument runway lighting is designed, the last 600 m, or one-half of the runway length available (whichever is less), are bi-directional. They look white to the pilot approaching from the short end of the runway, but to a pilot approaching from the other end, who would be landing or taking off in that direction, they are yellow to indicate that the runway is nearing the end.

References

References

1. Rossier, Robert N.. (1998-12-01). "Light Up Your Night: A Guide to Airport Lighting Systems".
2. "Runway Safety Best Practices". United States Department of Transportation.
3. (2017-11-11). "Airport and Runway Lighting Systems Explained".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::