Lancaster Airport Retires Beacon That Guided Pilots for More Than 90 Years
Sep. 1—Approaching Lancaster Airport at night from 10 miles away, pilots can use a number of modern tools to guide them home, as well as one that until recently had not changed since the airport opened in 1935.
The airport's rotating beacon, a flashing green and white light that helps pilots identify the airport from miles away, is a tool from the early days of aviation when pilots navigated by "dead reckoning," with a map and compass.
"When you're flying at night, or with visibility low, that beacon is a level of comfort to help find the airport," said Bob May, a licensed pilot from Willow Street.
As part of an airport-wide project to upgrade navigational lights to LED, Lancaster Airport recently replaced the beacon. The original had been in place since the airport opened over 90 years ago, according to airport officials.
The 3-foot tall beacon's orange paint is faded and worn away in some areas. It now sits in storage at the airport, but in the future, the airport authority hopes to find room in the passenger terminal to display it — after planned upgrades to the building are complete.
"Based on its storied history, we want to make sure it's something people can look at and enjoy," said Austin Beiler, operations and development director for the Lancaster Airport Authority.
Federally required at most airports across the country, beacons operate from dusk until dawn and during the day when visibility is limited. Lancaster's sits 70 feet in the air atop a tower attached to the original airport building.
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The alternating green and white lights identify it as a civil airport, while U.S. Military airports and seaports have their own patterns. If it's on during the day, it's an indication to pilots that they can't fly unless they've been certified to rely only on cockpit instruments.
Lancaster's old beacon was powered by a single 400 watt lightbulb, about 8 inches long. The new LED unit can be seen from four or five times as far on a clear night — around 40 miles — and requires little to no maintenance, but it doesn't cut the same iconic profile as its predecessor.
For those who grew up around the airport, the old beacon is a reminder of the days when they fell in love with flying.
Daryl Nauman first noticed the beacon when his parents would take him to Lancaster Airport in the mid-1960s to watch Allegheny Airlines flights land and take off. Those trips inspired him to become a licensed pilot in high school.
"The airport was really quiet and dark in those days. So when you drove up to the airport you really noticed the beacon," the Millersville resident said.
Growing up in Lancaster County during the '60s and '70s, Chuck Simmons would spend hours at the airport hanging out with his fellow "airport bums." One of the things they liked to do was watch planes from the tower's observation deck, where the beacon was spinning overhead. When he got his pilot's license, the light it cast out took on a new significance.
"Almost any time that I flew, and I would see the beacon, I would get a sense of the beacon saying, 'You're here, welcome home,'" he said.
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