Backyard approaching lighting at Adelaide Airport

In my youth I once worked for a small local airport near where I grew up. I did a lot of small stuff like mowing lawn between runways and cleaning.<p>One day it was my job to switch out burned out light bulbs from the approach light installations. It was before anyone was risk averse so I only had a ladder to climb up, keep as still as possible while wrangling the cases open, getting the old bulb out and installing the new one.<p>The most terrifying thing was bursts of wind when the whole construction, me included started to wobble.<p>I had quite a bit of an adrenaline rush this day.<p>Good times, but now I feel a bit old.<p>Edit: German local online newspaper article containing a photo of the approach lighting [0].<p>IATA designation: HOQ<p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.frankenpost.de&#x2F;inhalt.hof-stadtrat-beraet-ueber-anteile-am-flughafen.a831abba-69c7-4eca-8f55-3a7a804b1867._amp.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.frankenpost.de&#x2F;inhalt.hof-stadtrat-beraet-ueber-...</a><p>Reading about it I learned that it is nowadays also used as a test area for BMW&#x27;s autonomous driving. And nearly not used for regular flight activities.

I didn&#x27;t think I would see anything about this anywhere let alone HN. I remember riding through the district and noticing the ridiculous poles in someone&#x27;s backyard. Then another, and another... then I understood what was going on. It&#x27;s certainly bizarre! You think to yourself, it must br annoying to have part of your yard taken up by these ugly poles. Then a plane comes in for landing and you realise the poles are a relatively small compromise compared to the noise.

As a related Adelaide fact - the center of town is ringed by a &quot;moat&quot; of parklands, each ostensibly the width of a cannonball and designed as a defensive structure (an invading force would need to run through a cannon&#x27;s worth of artillary). On a map the green square is extremely distinctive <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Adelaide_Park_Lands#&#x2F;media&#x2F;File:Streetmap_of_Adelaide_and_North_Adelaide.png" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Adelaide_Park_Lands#&#x2F;media&#x2F;Fil...</a>

I almost bought a house at the end of AGC. We ran the numbers and watched a bunch of planes land. It seemed cool, until we visited at night. There are lights that flash directly on a house until well after 11pm. It lit up the entire neighborhood. Nope. We looked at typical arrivals and departures…5am till 2am. Unless you love pulsating lights and flight noises, the cost to own near an airport end isn’t worth it.

The photo from the plane perspective[0] looks surreal… almost like someone superimposed the approach lights onto the residential block. Very impressive, in its way!<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wongm.com&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2022&#x2F;03&#x2F;Adelaide-Approach-Runway-23-airportelectrical.com_.au_.jpg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wongm.com&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2022&#x2F;03&#x2F;Adelaide-Approa...</a>

London City Airport is also in a fairly built-up area, so I wondered how the approach lights work there. Seems they run through an industrial estate:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;maps.app.goo.gl&#x2F;vTAcMJnk567MLjZ79" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;maps.app.goo.gl&#x2F;vTAcMJnk567MLjZ79</a><p>(and on the other side of the bridge for a little way)

In Australia, airports are federal land. Controlled substances are under state jurisdiction.<p>So this raises a fecetious question - if you smoked a joint under the lights would you be immune to state prosecution?

Reminds me of Taipei Songshan airport&#x27;s approach lighting which is just as exposed<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.flickr.com&#x2F;photos&#x2F;kentaroiemoto&#x2F;4348434393&#x2F;in&#x2F;photostream&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.flickr.com&#x2F;photos&#x2F;kentaroiemoto&#x2F;4348434393&#x2F;in&#x2F;ph...</a>

The good news is that Adelaide airport has a fairly restrictive curfew. These poor homeowners don’t have to put up with air traffic 24&#x2F;7

Looked like it&#x27;s been hugged to death (HTTP 525)<p>See <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20220405002759&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wongm.com&#x2F;2022&#x2F;04&#x2F;backyard-approaching-lighting-adelaide-airport&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20220405002759&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wongm.com...</a><p>Doesn&#x27;t appear to have all the images unfortunately.

It’s actually quite common for approach lights to be located off airport property. That’s a bit of an extreme case with peoples homes and backyards. Usually this would be across roads or commercial properties.

Around Bromma City Airport in Stockholm, Sweden there are approach lighting on the rooftops on adjacent houses, between roads etc. Also the road lights for the road passing just next to the airfield fence are lower where the airstrip is.<p>See: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;maps&#x2F;@59.3486514,17.9570959,3a,75y,124.64h,88.96t&#x2F;data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sUwQj-UU4_7mQcM01mD7cJA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;maps&#x2F;@59.3486514,17.9570959,3a,75y,12...</a>

Reminds me of approach lighting at Reykjavik airport in Iceland. Although not quite as dramatic as Adelaide since it&#x27;s not in a residential area, it goes right through a very busy road intersection:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;maps&#x2F;@64.1388,-21.9398871,3a,75y,144.21h,102.56t&#x2F;data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sbOEa2zqafvByfv9cBJd4dw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;maps&#x2F;@64.1388,-21.9398871,3a,75y,144....</a>

Fascinating. I&#x27;m curious whether these are always lit at night, or only automatically turn on for each landing? (Being ignorant about how approach lights work in general).

It&#x27;s not quite as odd as the neighborhood overlay shown here, but the third runway at Seatac Airport was built on the edge of a ravine, and the approach lights are therefore strung along a truss, which crosses over a nearby highway - you drive underneath the lighting structure when approaching to the airport from the north.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.redd.it&#x2F;uxbw610dgpx01.jpg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.redd.it&#x2F;uxbw610dgpx01.jpg</a>

This is similar to the Canarsie Approach to JFK airport in New York.<p>Here&#x27;s a brief article on the topic <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wingmag.com&#x2F;en&#x2F;the-canarsie-approach" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wingmag.com&#x2F;en&#x2F;the-canarsie-approach</a>.

I’ve nothing relevant to say about this other than I am happy to see one of Marcus’ posts on HN! He has some great content centred around public transport in and around Melbourne, Australia.

I thought this was about the landing lights of approaching flights, illuminating the backyards.

Poor server…

If anyone would like to watch a comedy film about a similar topic, 1997&#x27;s &quot;The Castle&quot; [0] is a beloved* and oft-quoted classic in Australia, that follows a family fighting the compulsory acquisition of their home for an airport expansion.<p>It is _very_ dense with its cultural references, so many jokes might slip by unnoticed if you aren&#x27;t from Australia, but I would still recommend it for its good-natured charm.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_Castle_(1997_Australian_film)" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_Castle_(1997_Australian_fi...</a><p>* especially by legal professionals

Dude really thought he could host his website on Australian internet?

crazy!