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Runway Centreline Lights Inspection by Drone
Drone inspection of runway centreline lights. Every inset unit counted, its colour coding checked and its output set against its neighbours, scored to…
OCT 12 2026
12 MIN
RUNWAY LIGHTING SYSTEM · EASA ADR.OPS.C.015
Touchdown zone lights, unit by unit
The touchdown zone lights are the inset white barrettes either side of the centre line where a crew in low visibility expects the wheels to meet the runway. Every landing puts rubber on them. We fly the touchdown zone and record every unit: lit or dark, its colour, its output against its neighbours and its surveyed position, then score the system against its own limit.
Counts illustrative · generic airport · time compressed
100 %
of the inset units counted
per unit
output, set against its neighbours
per unit
position, checked against the surveyed layout
RTK ±1 cm
position of every unit
FROM THE FIELD
Real captures from real inspections
Every picture below comes from an inspection we flew: drone frames, field photos and app screens. The brackets mark what the analysis reads.
Runway axis, dashes and edge line
4K frame from a PAPI flight on 9 Sep 2026, downscaled to 2880 px.
Night lighting, 15 units in view
4K frame from the 18 Sep 2026 session, every bracket on a detected light.
FIT
Who this is for
This service is bought by the person who signs the touchdown zone row of the visual aids protocol and knows that the lights under the landing gear lose output before they go dark. It fits the electrical manager at an aerodrome with CAT II or III operations, the operator planning a rubber removal or a cleaning round who wants to send the crew to the right units, and the aerodrome that has resurfaced the first part of a runway and needs to show that every unit is back.
For
Airfield electrical and maintenance managers at aerodromes with CAT II or III operations, where the touchdown zone lights carry a serviceability limit of their own and a night walk is the only check today.
Operators planning a rubber removal or a lens cleaning round who want to know which units are actually down on output before the crew goes out onto the runway.
Aerodromes that have resurfaced or regrooved the first part of a runway and need a record that every inset unit is back, lit and at its surveyed position.
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 why a unit reads low, whether a dirty lens, a failing lamp or a seal letting water in, which needs a hand on the fixture.
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 inset unit
Each unit in the touchdown zone comes back lit or dark, with its colour, its output against its neighbours and its surveyed position.
Acceptance
Pick any unit, and its figures, its verdict and the frames they came from are there.
02
The system scored against its own limit
The touchdown zone lights are counted as one system and set against the serviceability objective for the operating category you name, with any adjacent unserviceable units named with their positions, so you can judge them against the rule on adjacent outages. The centre line beside them gets its own count.
Acceptance
The system has its count, its percentage and the positions of the units that failed.
03
A list the maintenance crew can work from
Units are ordered by how far they sit below their neighbours, so the lenses to clean and the fittings to open are listed in the order the work should be done.
Acceptance
Every unit on the list carries the figure that put it there, not just a rank.
What the service does not undertake to produce is a cause. A unit that reads low may be a dirty lens, a failing lamp or water in the fitting, and the protocol says which units misbehave and how, not why. Where the question is the runway lighting as a whole, the runway centreline lights
, the threshold and runway end lights
and the runway edge lights
are measured in the same sortie.
One fly-over, two systems
The touchdown zone is flown with the centre line, so every unit is seen from the same height and angle as the ones before and after it.
A fly-over down the runway axis
The drone tracks the centre line from the threshold over the length of the touchdown zone, generated from the surveyed unit positions, so each unit passes through the frame at the same distance as its neighbours. That is what makes one unit's output comparable with the next, and with the unit across the centre line. A leg that fits between movements covers the touchdown zone and the centre line together, and is reflown whole if a movement interrupts it.
Each unit against its neighbours and its surveyed position
Every unit is tracked through the footage and scored on its own: lit or dark, its colour against the white it should show, and its output against the units beside it. Each unit is also found at its surveyed position, so a dark or missing unit is located by position and not only as a lower count. Adjacent unserviceable units are named with their positions.
VERIFIED PARAMETERS
What the protocol answers
The touchdown zone row of the visual aids protocol, each item with the figure it is judged against.
8 parameters
EASA ADR.OPS.C.015
Parameter
What is verified
Tolerance
01
Layout
Every unit in the layout is present at its surveyed position, either side of the centre line, from the threshold over the length the layout gives.
Tolerance
Per CS-ADR-DSN
02
Colour
Each unit shows white, on every unit in the touchdown zone.
Tolerance
Per CS-ADR-DSN
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 II and III
Share of touchdown zone units serviceable during CAT II or III operations.
Tolerance
≥ 90% · ADR.OPS.C.015(b)
05
Serviceability, CAT I
Share of touchdown zone units serviceable during CAT I operations, where the runway has them.
Tolerance
85% where fitted · GM1 to ADR.OPS.C.015(b)
06
Adjacent outages
Units that are unserviceable and next to each other are named with their positions, so they can be judged against the rule.
Tolerance
Per ADR.OPS.C.015(b)
07
Dimming steps
Every unit changes intensity together and by the commanded step.
Tolerance
All commanded steps
08
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 units to a list the crew can work from
01
Scoping call
You name the runway ends with touchdown zone lights, whether the centre line is in scope on the same fly-over, the operating category the system 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 is generated from the unit positions, the length of the touchdown zone and the camera optics, split into legs that fit between movements. 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 leg as the centre line and the same sortie as the edge rows and the bars at each end. Each leg is flown at every intensity step in scope, and an interrupted leg is reflown unchanged.
04
Measurement
Each unit is tracked through the footage and its state, colour, output and position are extracted, then set against the units beside it and against the surveyed layout. Frames the tracker is not confident about are held for review rather than dropped.
05
Protocol
The touchdown zone row of the visual aids protocol is filled in your authority's wording, with a verdict per unit, the positions of dark or missing units, the adjacent unserviceable units, a count and a percentage for the system and a ranked list of the units to attend to. 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 and any unserviceable units that sit next to each other. Anything disputed is re-examined against the retained footage rather than re-flown.
Example of the per-unit output from a fly-over, shown here for runway edge lights
EVIDENCE AND CAPABILITY
The claim worth checking is the unit under the rubber
The touchdown zone is where a landing aircraft is meant to put its wheels down, and the touchdown zone lights mark it for a crew that cannot see the markings. They are in-pavement lights laid out as pairs of barrettes either side of the centre line, and every landing runs over them, so rubber builds on their lenses with every movement. A unit under that film can be lit, pass a night walk and still be unserviceable, because under ADR.OPS.C.015 a light has failed once the average intensity of its main beam falls below half the specified value.
The inspection measures every unit from the same height and angle on one fly-over, so each unit can be set against the units beside it and against the units across the centre line. A lens under rubber stands out from the clean ones around it, and the protocol names it with its light intensity relative to its neighbours and its position from RTK positioning . That is the list a rubber removal or a cleaning round should start from. Its colour is read from the same footage, so a unit whose chromaticity has drifted from white is reported with what was seen.
Adjacent outages are the second thing a count misses. A crew reads the touchdown zone as pairs of bars. Under ADR.OPS.C.015 the lights allowed to be unserviceable must not alter the pattern of the system, and the rule on adjacent outages has a specific allowance for a barrette. The protocol does not give a verdict on the pattern. It names the unserviceable units that sit next to each other, with their positions, so the operator can judge them against the rule. The count and percentage for the system come on top of that.
The system is then judged as the rules judge it. ADR.OPS.C.015 sets 90 percent serviceability for the touchdown zone lights in CAT II and III operations, a different figure from the centre line beside them. The protocol gives the count, the percentage and the position of every unserviceable unit, so whether the runway keeps its category is a decision the operator makes from figures rather than from an impression. The runway light serviceability limits guide sets out every system’s figure and what happens below it.
HOW THE PRICE IS BUILT
Four things move the quote
There is no published rate for this service, because one runway end with touchdown zone lights and both ends of two runways 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 2026-10-18
Cost driver 01
Runway ends and length
Capture time and processing scale with the number of units. Both ends of a runway share the setup and the tower coordination.
Cost driver 02
Centre line on the same pass
The centre line is in frame on the same fly-over, so measuring both costs less than measuring either alone, and each is scoped as a line item.
Cost driver 03
Combined visit
Measuring the edge rows, the threshold and end bars, 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, wind and a wet runway
Fog, precipitation and wind above the drone's limit stop the capture, and standing water over inset units changes the way they read from above. 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
A fly-over along the runway axis needs tower coordination and runway time between movements, at most aerodromes an escort, and a control room that can command the intensity steps. All of it sits with the aerodrome operator and is worth confirming before travel is booked.
Owner · BOTH, AT SCOPING
The layout and the category
Each unit is scored against its surveyed position and the system against the limit for the category you name. If units were moved or replaced during resurfacing since the layout was made, the scoring is against the wrong layout. 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 do touchdown zone lights need their own inspection?
- Because the rules give them their own figure. ADR.OPS.C.015 asks for 90 percent of the touchdown zone lights serviceable during CAT II and III operations, against 95 percent for the centre line beside them. A count across the whole runway can look healthy while the touchdown zone sits under its own limit, so the system is counted on its own. They also sit where every landing aircraft meets the pavement, so rubber builds on their lenses with every movement and a lit unit can still be under its limit.
- What is a barrette?
- A barrette is a short row of closely spaced lights that reads as one bar from the air. Touchdown zone lights are laid out as pairs of barrettes, one either side of the centre line, repeated down the first part of the runway. The protocol keeps one record for each unit. It does not score a barrette as a group.
- Does a dirty lens show up?
- Yes, as a unit that reads low against its neighbours. Every unit in the touchdown zone is measured from the same positions on the fly-over, so a lens under a film of rubber stands out from the clean units beside it and across the centre line. The protocol names it with its figure and its position. What it cannot say is the cause. A low reading may be the lens, the lamp or water in the fitting, and telling them apart needs a hand on the unit.
- Is the runway closed for the inspection?
- No. The fly-over is flown between aircraft movements in coordination with the tower, and the drone clears the runway when asked. The touchdown zone is short compared with the centre line and is usually flown inside the same leg. 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.
- Is this the same as the centre line inspection?
- It is the same fly-over and a different system. The barrettes either side of the centre line are in frame on the pass that measures the centre line, so the two are captured together. They are then counted apart, because each has its own limit and its own row in the visual aids protocol. The runway centreline lights page describes the centre line half of that pass, and the touchdown zone is scoped as a line item alongside it.
- Can it be combined with the other runway lights?
- That is the usual way to buy it. The fly-over that covers the touchdown zone and the centre line sits in the same sortie as the passes over the edge rows and the threshold and end bars, and the approach lights and the PAPI are measured from the approach in the same visit. Buying them together 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
- faa-ac-150-5340-30
- AC 150/5340-30, Design and Installation Details for Airport Visual Aids Federal Aviation Administration
- tarmacview-pricing
- Pricing: one visit, every light and every surface TarmacView
Reviewed by Štefan Moravík · 2026-10-18
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Get Started
Get a scope note and a price within two working days
Send the aerodrome, the runways with touchdown zone lights and whether the 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.