Because the PCL system only needs the carrier wave clicks, the pilot does not need to speak, just click the radio transmit button.
Think of the carrier wave of a pilot’s radio transmission like a boat and the people on the boat is the spoken message from the pilot. Normally when the pilot is talking to air traffic control or another aircraft the carrier wave is also transporting the voice communication with it. When the pilot radio is tuned to the correct PCL frequency and the pilot presses the radio’s PTT button, the aircraft radio will send out a carrier wave signal for the entire time the button is held. Each airport will have a designated frequency for the pilot controlled lighting or it will be monitoring the regular airport radio frequency. The system works by monitoring a specific radio frequencies ‘Carrier Wave’. Once the lights are on the pilot can then click a further 5 clicks to reduce the lights to medium intensity, and 3 clicks for low intensity. Seven clicks will put the lights on a maximum instensity. To activate the PCL lighting system, the pilot clicks their radio transmit button up to seven times in a 5 second period.
There are many terms used to describe remote controlled airport lighting.ĪRCAL – Aircraft Radio Control of Aerodrome Lighting Lets find out how its done! What is Pilot Controlled Airport Lighting? There was just a large black void by the city lights and when my instructor turned on the airport lights it was an incredible sight! From that point on I always waited until I had a good view of the airport before turning on the lights! To this day I can still remember my first cross-country night flight when I was back in flight school and it was to Salem airport in Oregon. It is only available at airports listed in the Chart Supplement. When flying at night and are nearing the destination seeing the airport all lit up is a wonderful and relaxing sight, but what happens if the air traffic controller has gone home or there was never one there to begin with? Are the lights on all the time? Are they on some kind of dusk/dawn sensor?ĪRCAL is Aircraft Radio Control of Aerodrome Lighting and it allows the pilot to turn on the airport lighting system for 15 minutes by clicking their microphone transmit button 5 or 7 times within 5 seconds on the designated frequency.