FAA 14 CFR Part 139: Airport Certification and Lighting Rules
14 CFR Part 139 sets no photometric testing interval for airfield lights. Section 139.311 requires proper upkeep. AC 150/5340-26C sets a twice yearly floor.
- 01 Part 139 never uses the word photometric. Section 139.311(d) only requires each lighting system to be properly maintained, with no measurement interval.
- 02 The nearest the rule comes to a lighting frequency is the airport-wide self-inspection in 139.327: daily unless the Airport Certification Manual says otherwise, plus extra inspections after unusual conditions, an accident or an incident.
- 03 Sections 139.7 and 139.311(f) name FAA advisory circulars as acceptable methods. They do not make a circular binding.
- 04 The twice a year floor comes from AC 150/5340-26C, which is recommended guidance and mandatory only for projects funded through AIP grants or PFC revenue.
- 05 The lighting maintenance procedures a certificated airport must follow are the ones in its FAA-approved Airport Certification Manual.
On this page · 9 sections
14 CFR Part 139 does not require any set interval for photometric testing of airfield lighting. Section 139.311(d) only requires each lighting system to be properly maintained. The figure people quote, not less than twice a year on a precision approach runway, comes from AC 150/5340-26C. That circular is recommended guidance, mandatory only for AIP-funded and PFC-funded projects.
The FAA does not write lighting rules airport by airport. It certificates airports under one regulation, 14 CFR Part 139, and the lighting duties sit in a single section of it. Readers who come here usually want one number, how often the lights must be measured. The regulation does not give it. This page shows what the rule does say, where the number people quote comes from, and what the FAA’s own certification texts add.
What Part 139 is and who it binds
Part 139 prescribes the certification and operation of airports in the United States that serve scheduled passenger-carrying operations of an air carrier aircraft with more than 9 passenger seats, or unscheduled passenger-carrying operations of an aircraft with at least 31 seats (139.1(a)). The rule sorts certificated airports into four classes by the kind of air carrier service they can handle (139.5). Class I covers airports certificated to serve scheduled operations of large air carrier aircraft.
The rule is binding on the holder of an Airport Operating Certificate. That is a regulatory requirement, not a recommendation. Section 139.7 adds that the certificate holder must comply with the requirements of subparts C and D in a manner authorized by the Administrator, and that FAA advisory circulars contain methods and procedures for compliance that are acceptable to the Administrator. An FAA advisory circular therefore sits one step below the rule. It shows one accepted way to comply and is not the rule itself.
What section 139.311 requires of lighting
Section 139.311 is titled Marking, signs, and lighting. Paragraph (c) says the certificate holder must provide and maintain lighting systems for air carrier operations when the airport is open at night or in conditions below VFR minimums. In Alaska, it applies when a prominent unlighted object cannot be seen from 3 statute miles or the sun is more than six degrees below the horizon. The lighting systems must be authorized by the Administrator and consist of at least these:
- Runway lighting that meets the specifications for takeoff and landing minimums, for each runway.
- One taxiway lighting system from four options: centreline lights, centreline reflectors, edge lights or edge reflectors.
- An airport beacon.
- Approach lighting that meets the specifications for takeoff and landing minimums for each runway, unless another entity provides or maintains it.
- Obstruction marking and lighting, as appropriate, on each object within the holder’s authority that the FAA has determined to be an obstruction.
Paragraph (d) is the maintenance duty. The holder must properly maintain each marking, sign or lighting system installed and operated on the airport. “Properly maintain” includes cleaning, replacing or repairing any faded, missing or nonfunctional item, keeping each item unobscured and clearly visible, and ensuring that each item provides an accurate reference to the user. Paragraph (e) requires all other airport lighting, including apron, parking, road and building lighting, to be adjusted or shielded so it does not interfere with air traffic control or aircraft operations. Paragraph (f) says FAA advisory circulars contain acceptable methods and procedures for the equipment, materials, installation and maintenance of these systems.
Read as a whole, the section describes a state to be kept, not a test to be run. Nothing in it names an intensity value, a measuring method or an interval.
What the rule does say about frequency
Frequencies and records in Part 139 that touch lighting
- Photometric testing
- No interval and no mention of the term anywhere in Part 139.
- Lighting maintenance
- 139.311(d): properly maintain each lighting system. No schedule, and no measurement is named.
- Self-inspection
- 139.327(a): daily unless the Airport Certification Manual says otherwise, when an unusual condition such as construction or weather may affect safe operations, and immediately after an accident or incident.
- Inspection records
- 139.327(c)(1): a record of each inspection showing the conditions found and the corrective actions taken, kept at least 12 consecutive calendar months.
- Inspector training
- 139.327(b)(3): initial and recurrent instruction every 12 consecutive calendar months, including familiarization with airport signs, marking and lighting.
- Lighting malfunction
- 139.339(c)(6): provide information to air carriers, using the NOTAM system as appropriate, on a malfunction of any lighting system required by 139.311.
- Unsafe conditions
- 139.343: if subpart D requirements cannot be met to the extent that uncorrected unsafe conditions exist, limit air carrier operations to the parts of the airport not rendered unsafe.
Two of these rows matter most for anyone planning a lighting measurement programme. The first is the daily self-inspection. It checks that the airport complies with subpart D, the operating requirements, and AC 150/5200-18D (paragraph 4.1.1) says part of it must occur during the hours of darkness at airports that serve air carriers in the dark. The second is the NOTAM duty in 139.339, which ties a lighting malfunction to information the airport must pass to air carriers.
The Airport Certification Manual holds the airport’s own procedures
Section 139.201(a) says nobody may operate an airport subject to Part 139 unless they adopt and comply with an Airport Certification Manual that the Administrator has approved. Section 139.203(b) lists the elements the manual must contain, by airport class. Element 14 is “a description of, and procedures for maintaining, the marking, signs, and lighting systems, as required under § 139.311”, and it applies to all four classes.
So the lighting maintenance procedures that bind a particular airport are the ones in its approved manual. AC 150/5210-22 says the maintenance tasks for section 139.311 are to fix or replace in kind broken or missing items, that the manual need not describe routine tasks such as replacing a burned-out light, and that further guidance is in AC 150/5340-26. The rule does not say the manual must contain a photometric testing interval. Whether a given manual contains one is a matter for that manual, which the airport and its FAA Airport Certification Safety Inspector can answer and this page cannot.
What FAA certification guidance adds
Four FAA documents add detail that the rule leaves out.
Order 5280.5D, the certification handbook. This is the FAA’s internal policy for its inspectors, effective 7 November 2016. Paragraph 4.7.7 has the inspector check runway and taxiway lights at night for alignment, spacing and optical performance, and request step changes on pilot-controlled lighting to evaluate intensity at each step. Paragraph 4.14.2 asks the inspector to verify that lighting is installed and maintained to FAA standards, specifications and maintenance tolerances, to have the runway lights cycled through all intensity levels and to look for uniform brightness, alignment and correct colour. Item 22 of that paragraph repeats the 139.311(d) definition of properly maintained and adds that AC 150/5340-26 discusses preventive maintenance practices for in-pavement lighting. The handbook describes a visual night check. It does not call for a photometric measurement in the paragraphs read.
AC 150/5200-18D, self-inspection. Dated 27 September 2022, it gives acceptable standards for the self-inspection program under 139.327. Paragraph 7.1.6.1 has the inspector check that taxiway lighting is the proper colour, oriented correctly and within the operational tolerance limits in AC 150/5340-26. Its paragraph 7.1.6.3 says light inspections must occur in darkness.
The CertAlerts. CertAlert 22-05 of October 2022 reminds operators of 139.311(d) after in-pavement fixtures failed and damaged aircraft. Its 2014 predecessor, 14-03, said the same and no longer appears on the FAA’s current CertAlert index. They ask for routine inspections and a detailed preventive maintenance programme, with extra attention to the bolts that secure fixtures and to supplemental inspections after surface work, snow and ice clearing or foreign object debris. CertAlert 23-03 covers airport-owned approach lighting, such as PAPI, REIL and approach light systems. It lists what operators must ensure, including that the manual describes who owns and maintains each system, that maintenance records are kept and that training is documented. The FAA’s letter of 13 September 2023 to airport sponsors repeats that Part 139 operators must document airport-owned lighting in the manual, train personnel and maintain the systems, and points to AC 150/5340-26. None of them mentions photometric testing.
AC 150/5340-26C. This is the one place the FAA text gives a measurement frequency. It is the subject of its own page, FAA AC 150/5340-26 , which sets out the monthly entries in its tables and the floor of twice a year for a precision approach runway. Three points from that circular bear on Part 139.
- Paragraph 2 says use of the circular is in general not mandatory, and mandatory for all projects funded with federal grant monies through the Airport Improvement Program and with revenue from the Passenger Facility Charges Program.
- Paragraphs 5.3.2.1.2(f) and 5.3.4.1.3 say the frequency of measurement for a precision approach runway should be based on traffic density, the local pollution level, the reliability of the installed equipment and the continuous assessment of the measured results, but in any case not less than twice a year.
- Paragraphs 5.3.2.1.2 and 5.3.4.1.3 also say a high intensity elevated runway edge light, or an in-pavement runway light, with an output below 70 percent of the minimum required under AC 150/5345-46 should be targeted for maintenance.
The circular’s own opening calls its content recommended guidelines, and its measurement paragraphs say “should”. Nothing in the circular’s text mentions Part 139, so the link between the two runs through 139.311(f) and the certification documents above, not through the circular.
Where each source stands on the interval
What each source says about how often lights must be measured
| Source | Status | What it says about measurement frequency |
|---|---|---|
| 14 CFR Part 139 (139.311) | Binding regulation for certificated airports | Nothing. Properly maintain each lighting system. No interval, no method |
| Airport Certification Manual (139.201, 139.203) | Binding once the FAA approves it | Whatever the airport wrote. The rule requires maintenance procedures for lighting but names no interval |
| FAA Order 5280.5D | Internal FAA handbook for inspectors | A night check of alignment, spacing and optical performance. No photometric measurement in the paragraphs read |
| AC 150/5340-26C | Recommended guidance, mandatory for AIP-funded and PFC-funded projects | Monthly photometric testing in Table 5-5 (elevated high intensity edge lights) and Table 5-6 (in-pavement lights), and not less than twice a year on a precision approach runway |
| EASA AMC1 ADR.OPS.C.015 | Acceptable means of compliance under Regulation (EU) No 139/2014 | CAT II and III runways: not less than twice a year for in-pavement lights, once a year for other lights |
| ICAO Annex 14 Vol I, 10.5.6 | Recommendation | CAT II and III runways: not less than twice a year for in-pavement lights, once a year for other lights |
The EU and ICAO figures apply to CAT II and III runways and split the interval by light type. The FAA circular applies one floor to a precision approach runway without naming a category. The EASA CS-ADR-DSN page and the ICAO Annex 14 page cover those frameworks in their own terms, and the runway light serviceability guide covers the EU serviceability limits and measurement frequency.
What this means for a measurement programme
A US certificated airport owes the FAA a properly maintained lighting system, a self-inspection program and a manual it follows. How often it measures light output is not set by the rule. The circular recommends a floor and a monthly schedule, the airport’s manual may carry its own procedures, and a grant assurance can make the circular mandatory for a funded project.
The FAA texts read for this page do not mention drones. Part 139 names no measurement method. AC 150/5340-26C, paragraph 4.1.12, describes mobile photometric measurement systems, calls hand held spot meters very ineffective, and says the equipment must be proven capable of high accuracy and repeatability. What satisfies a particular programme is left to the airport and its certification inspector. TarmacView’s airfield lighting inspection and PAPI inspection pages describe the service. The photometric measurement guide explains how in-field light measurement works for readers weighing methods under any of these frameworks.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How often does Part 139 require photometric testing of airfield lighting?
- It does not set a frequency. The regulation text never uses the word photometric, and 139.311 only requires each lighting system to be properly maintained. The figure readers look for, at least twice a year on a precision approach runway, is in AC 150/5340-26C. That circular is recommended guidance, mandatory only for projects funded through AIP grants or PFC revenue.
- Does Part 139 require any regular check of lighting at all?
- Yes, through the self-inspection program. Section 139.327(a) requires the airport to be inspected daily unless the Airport Certification Manual says otherwise, when an unusual condition such as construction or weather may affect safe operations, and immediately after an accident or incident. AC 150/5200-18D, paragraph 4.1.1, says part of the inspection must occur during the hours of darkness at airports that serve air carriers in the dark. Neither text sets a measurement interval.
- Is AC 150/5340-26C binding on a Part 139 airport?
- Not by Part 139 itself. Sections 139.7 and 139.311(f) say advisory circulars contain methods acceptable to the Administrator, which is different from making them mandatory. Paragraph 2 of the circular says its use is in general not mandatory, and mandatory for all projects funded with federal grant monies through AIP and with revenue from the Passenger Facility Charges Program. The FAA's September 2023 letter to airport sponsors says the same for all applicable projects funded through AIP and other federal programs and with PFC revenue.
- What do FAA inspectors check on airfield lighting?
- Order 5280.5D, paragraph 4.7.7, has the certification inspector check runway and taxiway lights at night for alignment, spacing and optical performance. In paragraph 4.14.2 the inspector asks for the runway lights to be cycled through all intensity levels and looks for uniform brightness, alignment and correct colour. The paragraphs read for this page describe a visual night check. They do not call for a photometric measurement.
- Where are an airport's own lighting maintenance procedures written down?
- In its Airport Certification Manual. Section 139.203(b)(14) requires, for every airport class, a description of and procedures for maintaining the marking, signs and lighting systems. Section 139.201(a) says nobody may operate the airport unless they adopt and comply with the manual the FAA approved. Part 139 does not say what interval, if any, the manual must contain, so the manual is the document to open.
- Does Part 139 or its guidance mention drones?
- No. A search of the Part 139 text, Order 5280.5D, AC 150/5200-18D, AC 150/5210-22, AC 150/5340-26C, CertAlerts 14-03, 22-05 and 23-03 and the 2023 sponsor letter found no mention of drones or unmanned aircraft. The rule names no measurement method either. Whether a given method satisfies an airport's programme is for the airport and its FAA certification inspector.
- How does this compare with the EU and ICAO approach?
- In the EU, ADR.OPS.C.015 of Regulation (EU) No 139/2014 binds the operator to a maintenance programme with serviceability objectives. The measurement interval sits in AMC, an acceptable means of compliance, at twice a year for in-pavement lights on CAT II and III runways and once a year for other lights. ICAO Annex 14 states the same as Recommendation 10.5.6. Part 139 puts no interval in the rule.
References
- 14-cfr-part-139
- 14 CFR Part 139, Certification of Airports Federal Aviation Administration, via the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
- faa-ac-150-5340-26c
- AC 150/5340-26C, Maintenance of Airport Visual Aid Facilities Federal Aviation Administration
- faa-order-5280-5d
- Order 5280.5D, Airport Certification Program Handbook Federal Aviation Administration
- faa-ac-150-5200-18d
- AC 150/5200-18D, Airport Safety Self-Inspection Federal Aviation Administration
- faa-ac-150-5210-22
- AC 150/5210-22, Airport Certification Manual Federal Aviation Administration
- faa-certalerts-lighting
- National Part 139 CertAlerts 14-03, 22-05 and 23-03 Federal Aviation Administration
- faa-sponsor-letter-2023
- Awareness of and Guidance on Maintaining Airport-Owned Approach Lighting Systems and Visual Aids Federal Aviation Administration, Office of Airport Safety and Standards
- easa-ear-aerodromes
- Easy Access Rules for Aerodromes (Regulation (EU) No 139/2014) European Union Aviation Safety Agency
- icao-annex-14-vol-1
- Annex 14 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, Volume I, Aerodrome Design and Operations International Civil Aviation Organization