Communications, Light Signals, and Runway Lighting Systems

Work the published sources in preflight, not on the radio:

• Chart Supplement — the complete listing (ground, clearance, approach, ATIS/AWOS, CTAF, UNICOM). Revised every 56 days, so check the edition date (PHAK ch. 14).
• Sectional and airport diagram — tower/CTAF boxes and the airport's automated weather.
• NOTAMs — frequency changes, tower hours, and RWSL or lighting outages.
• Chart Supplement remarks — also where you find LAHSO data, noise procedures, and whether runway lighting is keyed on the CTAF (AC 90-66C 9.4).

Where no tower, CTAF, or UNICOM is depicted, the frequency is MULTICOM 122.9 (AC 90-66C 9.6).

Nonstandard phrasing is a midair risk, not a style problem — the other pilot builds a mental picture from your words. Specific FAA guidance:

• Say the runway number, never "the active runway" (AC 90-66C 9.8.1).
• Speak the airport name at the beginning and end of every self-announce call — frequencies are shared.
• Avoid the words "to" and "for" — they get heard as runway numbers and altitudes (AC 90-66C 10.3).
• "Any traffic in the area, please advise" is not a recognized phrase and should not be used under any condition (AC 90-66C 9.8.1 Note).
• Include aircraft type to aid identification; paint schemes and colors do not replace the call sign.

LAHSO acceptance is a PIC decision, and the PIC has final authority to accept or decline (AIM 4-3-11).

Before you say yes:

• You know the Available Landing Distance (ALD) — published in the Chart Supplement and the U.S. Terminal Procedures Publications, and available from the controller on request.
• Your landing performance for the day fits inside that ALD, with runway slope accounted for.
• Weather is at least the 1,000-foot ceiling and 3 statute miles visibility that LAHSO requires (AIM 4-3-11).

Read it back with the words "hold short of Runway 23" — controllers need a full readback, and you should give it without being prompted. Decline early, ideally before the clearance is even issued, if it will not work.

RWSL is fully automated and driven by surface and approach surveillance. It indicates runway status only — it is not a clearance and never substitutes for one (AIM 2-1-6).

• Runway Entrance Lights (REL) — in-pavement red lights along the taxiway centerline to the hold line. Illuminated means high-speed traffic on the runway or an aircraft on final within about 1 mile of the threshold.
• Takeoff Hold Lights (THL) — a double row flanking the runway centerline, extending 1,500 feet ahead starting 375 feet from the departure threshold. Illuminated means it is unsafe to take off.

Never cross illuminated red lights. Stop or remain stopped, then tell ATC you stopped for an RWSL indication and request clarification. When THLs extinguish, that is still not a takeoff clearance.

Acknowledge by rocking the wings during daylight and blinking the landing light at night (PHAK ch. 14, Figure 14-42).

Troubleshoot first — most failures are a knob, a jack, a mic switch, or the audio panel. Then:

• Receiver inoperative: stay outside or above Class D until you have the traffic flow, advise the tower of type, position, altitude, and intention to land, enter the pattern, report position, and watch for light signals.
• Transmitter inoperative: same procedure, plus monitor the ATC frequency and acknowledge transmissions by rocking wings (day) or blinking the landing light (night).
• Both inoperative: remain outside Class D until the flow is determined, then enter and watch for light signals (PHAK ch. 14).

Squawk 7600. Radio malfunctions should be repaired before further flight, and NORDO arrivals are not accepted at busy airports — diverting to a quieter nontowered field is often the professional call.

Declare early — options shrink as the situation develops, and 91.3(a) makes you the final authority, so nothing about declaring is a punishment.

• MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY — a distress condition. It has absolute priority and commands radio silence on the frequency.
• PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN — an urgency condition. Priority over everything except distress (AIM 6-3-1).

Call the facility you are already working, on the frequency in use. If nobody answers, broadcast to "Any Station" or use 121.5. Then give the elements in order: identification, nature of the trouble, intentions, position and altitude, fuel, and souls on board.

Transponder with Mode C (91.215(b)) — Class A, B, and C; within 30 NM of a Class B primary airport (the Mode C veil) from the surface to 10,000 feet MSL; above a Class B or C shelf up to 10,000 MSL; and at and above 10,000 feet MSL in the 48 states, excluding airspace at and below 2,500 feet AGL. In that airspace and in all controlled airspace, the transponder must be on with Mode C if installed (91.215(c)).

ADS-B Out — Class A is its own paragraph (91.225(a)). 91.225(d) then covers Class B and C, the 30 NM veil to 10,000 MSL, above a B or C shelf to 10,000 MSL, Class E at and above 10,000 MSL in the 48 states excluding at and below 2,500 AGL, and Class E at and above 3,000 MSL over the Gulf of Mexico out to 12 NM. It must be operated in the transmit mode at all times (91.225(f)).

Do not call the two rules identical. The 10,000 MSL trigger is Class E only for ADS-B but all airspace for the transponder (91.215(b)(5)(i)); the Gulf airspace has no transponder analogue; and the appendix D section 2 airports in 91.215(b)(5)(ii) have no ADS-B counterpart.

Not equipped? The deviation request must be made at least 1 hour before the flight; with equipment installed but inoperative, you may ask at any time (91.215(d), 91.225(g)).

All commissioned radar facilities provide basic radar service to VFR aircraft (AIM 4-1-18):

• Safety alerts — issued when the controller sees you in unsafe proximity to terrain, obstructions, or other aircraft. It cannot be mandated, and once issued, the course of action is solely yours (AIM 4-1-16).
• Traffic advisories — workload permitting.
• Limited radar vectoring — workload permitting.
• Sequencing where local procedures exist.

For VFR sequencing, call approach about 25 miles out. Note that "follow the preceding aircraft" does not authorize you to comply with any clearance issued to that aircraft (AIM 4-1-18). Standard separation between VFR aircraft is not provided.

An aircraft accident — death, serious injury, or substantial damage — requires immediate notification (49 CFR 830.5), plus a report on Form 6120.1/2 within 10 days, or after 7 days if an overdue aircraft is still missing (830.15).

Certain incidents also require immediate notification even with no damage or injury (830.5): flight control system malfunction or failure, inability of a required crewmember to perform duties from injury or illness, in-flight fire, in-flight collision, release of all or part of a propeller blade, property damage over $25,000, and an aircraft overdue and believed to have been in an accident.

Watch the wrong-surface item — it is not a general part 91 obligation. It applies only when an operator is operating an airplane as an air carrier at a public-use airport on land, and then covers landing or departing on a taxiway, incorrect runway, or other non-runway area, or a runway incursion requiring immediate corrective action by another crew or vehicle to avoid a collision (830.5(a)(12)). Your part 91 runway incursion is not a 830.5 reportable incident.

Serious injury — any injury that:

• Requires hospitalization for more than 48 hours, commencing within 7 days of the injury;
• Results in a fracture of any bone, except simple fractures of fingers, toes, or nose;
• Causes severe hemorrhages or nerve, muscle, or tendon damage;
• Involves any internal organ; or
• Involves second- or third-degree burns, or any burns affecting more than 5 percent of the body surface.

Substantial damage — damage or failure that adversely affects the structural strength, performance, or flight characteristics of the aircraft and would normally require major repair or replacement of the affected component.

An incident is an occurrence other than an accident that affects or could affect the safety of operations (830.2).

As part of preflight planning, determine whether your destination conducts LAHSO, and if it does, assess which LAHSO combinations work for your airplane given its required landing distance. Have the published ALD and runway slope for every LAHSO runway combination readily available (AIM 4-3-11).

The point is that good decision making is knowing in advance whether you can accept the clearance if it is offered. Deciding at 300 feet on short final, with a jet rolling toward the intersection, is not decision making.

Yes. A LAHSO clearance does not preclude a rejected landing (AIM 4-3-11). If a rejected landing becomes necessary, maintain safe separation from the other aircraft or vehicles and promptly notify the controller.

Otherwise, an accepted LAHSO clearance must be adhered to like any other ATC clearance unless amended or an emergency occurs. Land and exit at the first convenient taxiway before the hold short point unless directed otherwise; if you cannot, stop and hold at the hold short point.

A three-part system: yellow hold-short markings, red signage with white numerals identifying the intersecting runway, and in some cases in-pavement lighting — a row of pulsing white lights across the runway at the hold short point, on any time LAHSO is in effect and off when it is not (AIM 2-1-5, 4-3-11). Not every LAHSO airport has all three, so do not count on lights.

LAHSO is not authorized for student pilots on solo flights, generally not authorized at night, and not authorized on wet runways. At many airports air carriers may not participate in LAHSO when the other aircraft is a general aviation airplane. If you are cleared to land without a hold-short restriction, you may use the entire landing length and should disregard the LAHSO markings (PHAK ch. 14).

Proceed according to your best judgment while understanding the illuminated lights indicate the runway is unsafe to enter or cross, and contact ATC at the earliest possible opportunity (AIM 2-1-6). The same logic applies to THLs illuminating once you are into the takeoff roll and stopping is unsafe.

Two supporting habits: operate the transponder and ADS-B "On" from leaving the gate or parking area until shutdown on arrival, because RWSL depends on ASDE-X/ASSC surveillance data; and remember ATC may not be able to see the light activations at all, so the report has to come from you.

• Runway guard lights — elevated flashing yellow lights on either side of the taxiway, or a row of in-pavement yellow lights across the taxiway at the runway holding position. They enhance the conspicuity of the intersection.
• Clearance bar lights — three in-pavement steady-burning yellow lights at taxiway holding positions.
• Stop bar lights — a row of red, steady-burning in-pavement lights across the taxiway at the runway holding position with elevated red lights on each side, used to confirm an ATC clearance to cross in low visibility, below 1,200 feet RVR. Never cross an illuminated stop bar.
• Taxiway lead-off/lead-on lights — alternating green and yellow, starting with green, from the runway centerline to one light position beyond the holding position or ILS critical area (PHAK ch. 14).

Work outward from the cheapest fix:

1. Volume and squelch — a squelched receiver is silent, not broken.
2. Audio panel — wrong transmitter selected, speaker/phone switch, or a failed panel that kills both radios at once.
3. Headset and jacks — the single most common culprit; try the hand mic.
4. Stuck mic — if the frequency has gone quiet and nobody answers anybody, suspect your own PTT and switch to the other transmitter.
5. Frequency and flip-flop — standby versus active, and a mis-set 25 kHz digit.
6. Second comm and the alternator/bus — a comm failure with other electrical symptoms is an electrical problem, not a radio problem.

If it is genuinely dead, transmit blind anyway: only the receiver may have failed. VHF is line of sight, so climbing can also solve what looks like a failure (PHAK ch. 14).

Yes — contact ATC by telephone and request a VFR departure without two-way radio communications. If authorization is given, you will be advised to monitor the appropriate frequency and/or watch for light signals as appropriate (PHAK ch. 14). Expect a refusal at a busy airport.

At a nontowered field the controller's surveillance is removed from the safety picture and you are assuming that role (AC 90-66C 9.5). The AC goes further: failure to follow the communication protocol has contributed to near midair collisions and could be considered careless and reckless operation.

Practical mitigations:

• Monitor the CTAF 10 minutes before taxi for departure and from 10 miles out on arrival (AC 90-66C 9.5, 10.4.1).
• Coordinate your takeoff with inbound traffic, pattern traffic, and anyone on a straight-in before entering the runway.
• Remember your transmission can block someone else's — a call is not confirmation that the pattern is empty, and radio-less aircraft are legal at most nontowered fields.