McCarthy airport gets emergency lighting

The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) brought a nifty set of emergency airport lights to McCarthy this past March. Although they are not permanently installed, local residents have volunteered to set the lights out along the McCarthy Airport runway if the need arises.

According to Carl Siebe, who brought the lights to McCarthy and trained several “locals,” DOT&PF tries to light all of the state runways that meet the minimum criteria of at least 2,500 feet long, no obstructions or hazards to night flight, and where the community has power. McCarthy is not lighted because there is no commercial power.

Senator Stevens expressed a desire for every community in Alaska to have some type of aircraft night landing capability after hearing from a constituent about not being able to transport an elderly cardiac patient from a community. The Senator backed up this up with appropriations in the FY02, FY03, and FY04 Federal budgets. The McCarthy portable lights were funded from the FY03 budget.

The lights are called Cold Cathode, and are a military light, adapted for civilian use. Each light has its own rechargeable 12 volt lead-acid gel battery that will provide about 8 hours of light when fully charged. The bulbs should last for 50,000 hours. The batteries have a life expectancy of about 5 years. Replacement batteries currently cost about $35 and can be shipped by US Mail.

Seven communities, including McCarthy, meet the safety criteria for runway lighting, but do not have power for conventional runway lights. The decision was made to deploy enough portable lights to light 3,000 feet of runway. The system is contained in an ATV trailer and includes the lights, a charging system (that still needs external power) and laser lights to assist in laying out the lights in a straight line.

In McCarthy, the lights will be stored in the DOT snow removal equipment building at the airport, and will be charged periodically when the small DOT generator is run. The local emergency response volunteers will know where a key to the building is located. Deployment of the lights in an emergency takes about 30 minutes.

A volunteer program is being discussed to insure that someone will have access to the lights at all times.