Wingtip to Runway light protector Concepts

My club recently had its first wingtip damage from a runway light. These lights stick up about a foot or so and are sometimes hard to avoid.

What solutions have other soaring clubs found to deal with them?

I was thinking that it maybe a good idea to put a deflector in front of the lights. If the wing is going to hit, it would hopefully deflect the wing up and over the light.
I was hoping the right design might not obscure the light any more than a tall weed. What are chances of getting something like this approved or accepted by either an airport authority or the FAA?

My first two concepts we
1. form a steel rod that goes over the light, and then front and back ends form spikes that could be hammered into the ground.
2. A wedge shaped cut plexiglass/acrylic sheet that the light could pass through. The bottom would have flanges heat formed to a allow it to be secured to the ground.

Please post any feedback or thoughts on if there is some solution to help protect glider wings.

I made simple sketches here, Please forgive the really crude drawings:

https://docs.google.com/presentation...it?usp=sharing

a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DhfbsEk49m-3LS-Vzs8YO-487Gv1YDjZNICBma72tlE/edit?usp=sharing"concept drawings/a

Chris

On Monday, January 2, 2017 at 8:53:09 AM UTC-5, wrote:
My club recently had its first wingtip damage from a runway light. These lights stick up about a foot or so and are sometimes hard to avoid.

What solutions have other soaring clubs found to deal with them?

I was thinking that it maybe a good idea to put a deflector in front of the lights. If the wing is going to hit, it would hopefully deflect the wing up and over the light.
I was hoping the right design might not obscure the light any more than a tall weed. What are chances of getting something like this approved or accepted by either an airport authority or the FAA?

My first two concepts we
1. form a steel rod that goes over the light, and then front and back ends form spikes that could be hammered into the ground.
2. A wedge shaped cut plexiglass/acrylic sheet that the light could pass through. The bottom would have flanges heat formed to a allow it to be secured to the ground.

Please post any feedback or thoughts on if there is some solution to help protect glider wings.

I made simple sketches here, Please forgive the really crude drawings:

https://docs.google.com/presentation...it?usp=sharing

a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DhfbsEk49m-3LS-Vzs8YO-487Gv1YDjZNICBma72tlE/edit?usp=sharing"concept drawings/a

Chris

Our club has removable barriers over end marking lights at one end of our field so we don't rip them out with tow ropes. Not a landing area but short of it for tugs.
We put low light plastic cones over the lights near our operating area to make them much more visible. This is effective in preventing almost all hits. They also seem to moderate damage when hit happens which is now very rare.
We put all this stuff(3 barriers and about 12 cones) up each day. Takes 5 minutes on the golf cart.
Experience shows that if lights can be seen they get avoided pretty much all the time.
We operate in grass parallel to the paved runway having lights.
UH

Which ship took the hit?

Yes........ I believe more than one over the years.

On Monday, January 2, 2017 at 5:35:03 PM UTC-5, chuck wrote:
Which ship took the hit?

K-7 this time, could be any next time.

On Monday, January 2, 2017 at 5:53:09 AM UTC-8, wrote:
My club recently had its first wingtip damage from a runway light. These lights stick up about a foot or so and are sometimes hard to avoid.

What solutions have other soaring clubs found to deal with them?

I was thinking that it maybe a good idea to put a deflector in front of the lights. If the wing is going to hit, it would hopefully deflect the wing up and over the light.
I was hoping the right design might not obscure the light any more than a tall weed. What are chances of getting something like this approved or accepted by either an airport authority or the FAA?

Did you calculate the loads on the glider-wing/deflector as the glider strikes the angle of the deflector at landing speeds and considering the roll inertia of the glider? My gut-feel tells me that the angle needs to be much shallower.

Most runway lights I know of are designed to break off at the base when struck. Putting a reinforced structure over them seems problematic, particularly if you strike them from the side with, say, the fuselage or a power plane hooks the loop with a wheel. You also might want to see if the FAA has any requirements about what sorts of obstructions are permitted near a runway..

I like the system Rex Mayes installed at Montague, CA. Each light was put on a simple pivot slightly below ground level and encased with an irrigation box with a notch cut in the center of the long edge of the cover for the light post to fit through such that the closed cover holds the light in the up position. It covers the retracted light completely and is flush with the ground when the light is retracted.

You put the lights down at the beginning of operations and put them back up at the end of the flying day - before dusk of course. Changing configurations takes about as long as it takes two people to walk the length of runway you want clear. Generally this is only a few hundred feet if you are concerned about wing drops on takeoff, but may include the primary rollout area as well.

Here's an example of the irrigation box:

http://tinyurl.com/hkxoqa6

Hope that helps.

Andy Blackburn
9B

On Monday, January 2, 2017 at 5:53:09 AM UTC-8, wrote:
My club recently had its first wingtip damage from a runway light. These lights stick up about a foot or so and are sometimes hard to avoid.

What solutions have other soaring clubs found to deal with them?

I was thinking that it maybe a good idea to put a deflector in front of the lights. If the wing is going to hit, it would hopefully deflect the wing up and over the light.
I was hoping the right design might not obscure the light any more than a tall weed. What are chances of getting something like this approved or accepted by either an airport authority or the FAA?

My first two concepts we
1. form a steel rod that goes over the light, and then front and back ends form spikes that could be hammered into the ground.
2. A wedge shaped cut plexiglass/acrylic sheet that the light could pass through. The bottom would have flanges heat formed to a allow it to be secured to the ground.

Please post any feedback or thoughts on if there is some solution to help protect glider wings.

I made simple sketches here, Please forgive the really crude drawings:

https://docs.google.com/presentation...it?usp=sharing

a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DhfbsEk49m-3LS-Vzs8YO-487Gv1YDjZNICBma72tlE/edit?usp=sharing"concept drawings/a

Chris

Correction, I mistyped - the notch is in the center of the edge of the box along the long axis - this gives you about 18 inches of light height you can accommodate.

9B

On Monday, January 2, 2017 at 11:34:59 PM UTC-8, Andy Blackburn wrote:
Most runway lights I know of are designed to break off at the base when struck. Putting a reinforced structure over them seems problematic, particularly if you strike them from the side with, say, the fuselage or a power plane hooks the loop with a wheel. You also might want to see if the FAA has any requirements about what sorts of obstructions are permitted near a runway.

I like the system Rex Mayes installed at Montague, CA. Each light was put on a simple pivot slightly below ground level and encased with an irrigation box with a notch cut in the center of the long edge of the cover for the light post to fit through such that the closed cover holds the light in the up position. It covers the retracted light completely and is flush with the ground when the light is retracted.

You put the lights down at the beginning of operations and put them back up at the end of the flying day - before dusk of course. Changing configurations takes about as long as it takes two people to walk the length of runway you want clear. Generally this is only a few hundred feet if you are concerned about wing drops on takeoff, but may include the primary rollout area as well.

Here's an example of the irrigation box:

http://tinyurl.com/hkxoqa6

Hope that helps.

Andy Blackburn
9B

On Monday, January 2, 2017 at 5:53:09 AM UTC-8, wrote:
My club recently had its first wingtip damage from a runway light. These lights stick up about a foot or so and are sometimes hard to avoid.

What solutions have other soaring clubs found to deal with them?

I was thinking that it maybe a good idea to put a deflector in front of the lights. If the wing is going to hit, it would hopefully deflect the wing up and over the light.
I was hoping the right design might not obscure the light any more than a tall weed. What are chances of getting something like this approved or accepted by either an airport authority or the FAA?

My first two concepts we
1. form a steel rod that goes over the light, and then front and back ends form spikes that could be hammered into the ground.
2. A wedge shaped cut plexiglass/acrylic sheet that the light could pass through. The bottom would have flanges heat formed to a allow it to be secured to the ground.

Please post any feedback or thoughts on if there is some solution to help protect glider wings.

I made simple sketches here, Please forgive the really crude drawings:

https://docs.google.com/presentation...it?usp=sharing

a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DhfbsEk49m-3LS-Vzs8YO-487Gv1YDjZNICBma72tlE/edit?usp=sharing"concept drawings/a

Chris

They do make flush runway lights, last time I looked it was about $500 per light though. As lights get broken work with airport management to get them replaced with flush mounted lights. Granted a slow developing solution, but should be part of the solution plan along with others mentioned above.

Flush light won't work so well we're it snows.

I used to joke that one reason I landed out so much was because airport's were so dangerous. Airplanes, runway lights, and other hazards are everywhere at municipal airports that just don't exist in a nice farmer's field.

I was kidding...sorta