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Runway Edge Lights Inspection by Drone, Unit by Unit
Drone inspection of runway edge lights. Intensity, colour, beam shape and position measured for every unit, with a same-day protocol to ICAO, EASA or…
AUG 03 2026
12 MIN
RUNWAY LIGHTING SYSTEM · EASA ADR.OPS.C.015
Threshold and runway end lights, bar by bar
The green bar tells a crew where the runway begins and the red bar where it ends, and each one has its own serviceability limit. We fly both bars and record every unit: lit or dark, its colour, its intensity against the bar and its surveyed position. Each bar comes back scored against its own limit.
100 %
of the units in each bar counted
2 faces
green and red, each scored on its own
per bar
serviceability, judged against its own limit
RTK ±1 cm
position of every unit
FIT
Who this is for
This service is bought by the person who signs the threshold and runway end rows of the visual aids protocol. It fits the electrical manager with a periodic protocol due, the aerodrome running low visibility operations where each bar has its own limit, and the operator who has just relamped a bar or moved a threshold and needs to show that every unit is lit, coloured correctly and in place.
For
Airfield electrical and maintenance managers who owe their authority a periodic visual aids protocol with separate rows for the threshold and the runway end lights.
Aerodromes operating in low visibility, where the threshold and end bars carry their own serviceability limits and a count for the whole runway does not show whether a bar has dropped below its own.
Operators who have replaced or relamped a bar, or changed a threshold position, and need a measured record that every unit is lit, the right colour and where it should be.
Not for
Certified absolute photometry of individual fixtures, which is done with a calibrated photometer at the unit or in a laboratory rather than from the air.
Electrical faults in the circuit, regulators or cabling, which the protocol can point to through the units that misbehave but does not diagnose.
Deciding whether the runway may stay in a given operating category, which is the operator's call made from the counts and positions the protocol gives.
JUDGED ON DELIVERY
Outcomes and acceptance criteria
Three outcomes are what the service is judged on, and each has a state you can check on delivery rather than a promise you have to trust.
01
A record for every unit in each bar
Each fixture comes back lit or dark, with its colour, its intensity against the rest of its bar and its surveyed position. A bidirectional fixture gets a record for each face.
Acceptance
Pick any unit, and its figures, its verdict and the frames they came from are there.
02
Each bar scored against its own limit
The threshold and the runway end are counted as separate systems and set against the serviceability objective for the operating category you name, including the rule on adjacent unserviceable lights.
Acceptance
Each bar has its own count, its own percentage and the positions of the units that failed.
03
A protocol the authority recognises as evidence
The threshold and runway end rows of the visual aids protocol in ICAO, EASA or FAA wording, with the flight record and the source frames attached to every finding.
Acceptance
The document files as the periodic check without being retyped into another form.
What the service does not undertake to produce is a diagnosis of the circuit or a decision about the operating category. A unit that reads low may be a lamp, a lens, a filter or a regulator, and the protocol says which units misbehave and how, not why. Where the question is the whole runway rather than its two ends, the runway edge lights
inspection covers the row between them in the same passes.
Two bars, two directions
A runway end is seen from two sides, and the inspection looks at it from both.
Over the bar, and from the approach
A fly-over crosses each bar above the units, so every fixture is seen down its own beam and its position is fixed against the survey. An observation arc out on the approach looks back at the threshold at the height a crew sees it from, which is how the green bar is judged as a pattern rather than as a list of units. The red end bar is seen the same way from the far side, as the crew rolling out toward it would see it.
Every unit, every face, against its own system
Each fixture is tracked through the footage and scored on its own: lit or dark, its colour against the green or red it should show, and its intensity against the rest of its bar. A bidirectional unit is scored twice, once for each face, because the two faces belong to two different systems. A gap where a unit should be is reported as a missing light at its surveyed position, not as a shorter bar.
VERIFIED PARAMETERS
What the protocol answers
The threshold and runway end rows of the visual aids protocol, each with the figure it is judged against.
9 parameters
EASA ADR.OPS.C.015
Parameter
What is verified
Tolerance
01
Bar configuration
Each bar is complete across the runway, with wing bars where fitted, and every unit sits at its surveyed position.
Tolerance
Per CS-ADR-DSN
02
Colour
The threshold bar shows green toward the approach and the runway end bar shows red toward the runway, on every unit and every face.
Tolerance
Per CS-ADR-DSN Chapter U
03
Unserviceable light
A unit whose main beam average intensity has fallen below half the specified value, or whose filter is missing, damaged or the wrong colour, is counted as unserviceable even if it is lit.
Tolerance
< 50% of specified intensity · ADR.OPS.C.015(c)
04
Serviceability, CAT I
Share of units serviceable, set separately for the threshold and the runway end.
Tolerance
≥ 85% each · ADR.OPS.C.015(b)(6)
05
Serviceability, CAT II and III
Share of units serviceable in each bar during CAT II or III operations.
Tolerance
95% threshold · 75% runway end · ADR.OPS.C.015(b)
06
Serviceability, take-off
Runway end lights on runways used for take-off, set by runway visual range.
Tolerance
RVR < 550 m: 75% · RVR ≥ 550 m: 85% · ADR.OPS.C.015(b)(7), (8)
07
Adjacent outages
No unserviceable unit sits next to another where the operating category forbids it, and the positions of any pair are given.
Tolerance
Per ADR.OPS.C.015(b)
08
Dimming steps
Every unit in both bars changes intensity together and by the commanded step.
Tolerance
All commanded steps
09
Position
Each unit sits at its surveyed position, and a dark or missing unit is reported against the light it belongs to.
Tolerance
RTK ±1 cm
EU values from ADR.OPS.C.015 under Regulation (EU) No 139/2014 and CS-ADR-DSN Issue 7. Where your authority publishes its own values, those apply. Protocols are issued in your authority's format for ICAO, EASA or FAA.
DELIVERY · 6 STEPS
From surveyed bar to scored protocol
01
Scoping call
You name the runway ends, whether wing bars are fitted, the operating category each bar must meet and whether a surveyed layout exists. We agree the intensity steps to be checked and the protocol template your authority wants. Output is a scope note. If the layout does not exist, the first visit produces it.
02
Mission build
The fly-over and the observation arcs are generated from the unit positions and the camera optics, so every unit is framed at the distance and angle the measurement needs. Output is a validated mission and a capture window request to your tower, plus a request to your lighting control room for the steps to be commanded.
03
Capture
Flown between aircraft movements, usually in the same sortie as the edge row. Each bar is flown at every intensity step in scope. If a movement interrupts a pass, the pass is reflown unchanged rather than stitched.
04
Measurement
Each unit is tracked through the footage and its state, colour, intensity and position are extracted, face by face. The units are then grouped into their systems and each system is counted against its own limit. Frames the tracker is not confident about are held for review rather than dropped.
05
Protocol
The threshold and runway end rows of the visual aids protocol are filled in your authority's wording, with a verdict per unit, a count and a percentage per bar, and the positions of every unserviceable light. Delivered the same day, with the flight record and the source frames attached.
06
Delivery and walkthrough
We walk your electrical manager through the units that failed, the faces that disagree and any pair of adjacent outages. Anything disputed is re-examined against the retained footage rather than re-flown.
EVIDENCE AND CAPABILITY
The claim worth checking is the count per bar
A runway end carries two lighting systems that a crew reads for two different things. The threshold lights say where the landing runway begins, and the runway end lights say where the runway stops. The rules treat them as two systems. ADR.OPS.C.015 gives each its own serviceability objective, and in low visibility operations the two figures are far apart, 95 percent for the threshold and 75 percent for the runway end. A protocol that reports one count for the runway answers neither.
The inspection therefore counts each bar on its own. Every unit is found at its surveyed position from RTK positioning , its state and colour are read from the footage, and its light intensity is set against the rest of its bar. A unit that is lit but running well under its neighbours is the case a night walk misses. Under ADR.OPS.C.015 it is still unserviceable once its main beam falls below half the specified value, and the inspection names it with the figure that put it there.
Bidirectional fixtures are where a simple count goes wrong. One housing at the runway end can show green to the aircraft landing over it and red to the aircraft rolling out from the other direction. The two faces belong to different systems, so the inspection scores each face on its own. A red filter that has cracked or faded, which turns the end bar toward white or orange, is found from the chromaticity of that face even when the green side of the same fixture is perfect.
Retained footage is what makes a disputed verdict checkable. If your electrical manager questions a unit, the frames it was read from are still there with their positions, and the verdict can be rechecked in front of them. That is also what lets the next visit report change unit by unit, and what lets the approach lights and the PAPI be measured in the same visit without a second trip.
HOW THE PRICE IS BUILT
Four things move the quote
There is no published rate for this service, because one runway with two plain bars and two runways with wing bars and displaced thresholds are different days of work off the same method. The quote gives your figure, and the pricing page describes the combined visit.
EUR
per aerodrome per visit
excl. VAT
EU
Checked 2026-10-12
Cost driver 01
Runway ends and bars
Capture and processing scale with the number of runway ends and units. Wing bars and displaced thresholds add units, not a different method.
Cost driver 02
Operating categories
Bars that must meet CAT II and III limits are scored against those limits as well as CAT I, which the scope note records.
Cost driver 03
Combined visit
Measuring the edge row, the approach lights and the PAPI in the same visit costs less than buying each separately, because the travel and the access are paid once.
Cost driver 04
Travel
Shows up as travel and not as a different inspection.
Tell us the aerodrome and the runways and you get a figure and a date back. The pricing page
sets out the shape of a visit that covers every light and every surface, which is the cheaper way to buy the lighting protocol as a whole.
EACH WITH AN OWNER
Risks and dependencies
Three things can stop or degrade an inspection, and each has an owner.
Owner · WEATHER
Visibility and wind
Fog, precipitation and wind above the drone's limit stop the capture. The mission is flown when the window opens rather than measured through the weather. This is the most common reason a date moves.
Owner · OPERATOR
Access and lighting control
The capture needs tower coordination, at most aerodromes an escort, and a control room that can command the intensity steps while the drone is in position. All three sit with the aerodrome operator and are worth confirming before travel is booked.
Owner · BOTH, AT SCOPING
The layout and the category
Each unit is scored against its surveyed position and each bar against the limit for the category you name. If the threshold has moved or units were added since the layout was made, or the category is not stated, the scoring is against the wrong reference. Both are agreed at scoping.
Accountability sits with TarmacView for the capture, the measurement and the protocol, and with the aerodrome operator for access, for the lighting control and for what is done with the findings. Nothing on this page is a compliance statement. Whether a given protocol satisfies a particular authority is a question for that authority.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why are the threshold and end lights checked separately from the edge row?
- Because the rules judge them separately. ADR.OPS.C.015 sets a serviceability objective for each lighting system, and the threshold and the runway end do not share a figure. For CAT II and III operations the threshold needs 95 percent of its lights serviceable and the runway end 75 percent. A count over the whole runway can look healthy while one bar sits under its own limit, so each bar is counted and scored on its own and the protocol gives a row for each.
- One fixture shows green one way and red the other. How is it scored?
- As two lights. At many runway ends a single bar of bidirectional fixtures does both jobs, green toward the aircraft landing over it and red toward the aircraft rolling out from the other direction. The green face belongs to the threshold of one runway and the red face to the end of the reciprocal, and each face is scored against its own system. A fixture can be serviceable on one face and not on the other, and the protocol says which.
- Is the runway closed for the inspection?
- No. The passes are flown between aircraft movements in coordination with the tower, and the drone clears the strip when asked. The bars are short, so they take minutes of flying, usually inside the same sortie as the edge row. The lights have to be on at the intensity steps being checked, which is a request to your lighting control room rather than to the tower. Processing and the protocol happen afterwards, off site.
- Do you cover wing bars and displaced thresholds?
- Yes. Wing bars, where the runway has them, are counted with the threshold they belong to. A displaced threshold moves the green bar away from the runway end, and the inspection follows the surveyed layout, so the bar is found and scored where it actually sits rather than where a runway end would put it. If the threshold has moved since the layout was made, the first thing the protocol reports is that the survey and the pavement disagree.
- What counts as an unserviceable light?
- Under ADR.OPS.C.015 a light is unserviceable when the average intensity of its main beam falls below half the specified value, or when its filter is missing or damaged or its colour is wrong. That is why a lit unit can still fail. The inspection reports each unit's intensity against the rest of its bar and its colour, so a unit that is lit but weak, or that shows the wrong colour on one face, is named with the figure that put it on the list.
- Can it be combined with the other runway lights?
- That is the usual way to buy it. The bars are in frame on the same passes that measure the edge row, and the observation arc that looks back along the runway from the approach is the same one used for the approach lights and the PAPI. Measuring them in one visit costs less than buying each separately, because the travel, the setup and the tower coordination are paid once.
References
- easa-ear-aerodromes
- Easy Access Rules for Aerodromes (Regulation (EU) No 139/2014), including CS-ADR-DSN Issue 7 European Union Aviation Safety Agency
- icao-annex-14-v1
- Annex 14 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, Volume I: Aerodrome Design and Operations International Civil Aviation Organization
- icao-doc-9157-p4
- Doc 9157, Aerodrome Design Manual, Part 4: Visual Aids International Civil Aviation Organization
- tarmacview-pricing
- Pricing: one visit, every light and every surface TarmacView
Reviewed by Štefan Moravík · 2026-10-12
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Get a scope note and a price within two working days
Send the aerodrome, the runways and whether the runway lighting has a surveyed layout. That is enough to scope. You get a written scope note and a price back within two working days, and the scope note is not binding until you accept it.