Portable, Safe and Solar-Powered Landing Lights
An ingenious new technology from South Africa, Landing Eyes are a unique lighting system for private airstrips. These small and highly cost-effective lights employ solar power, batteries and a series of reflective strips to safely illuminate landing strips for night time landings. Developed by an engineer and amateur pilot from Durban, Landing Eyes are a revolutionary product on a continent where only 10% of private and public airstrips are equipped with electrical landing lights.
Landing Eyes is a complete system composed of solar and battery powered threshold and end lights, mixed with small reflectors that are permanently installed along the airstrip. The portable, durable threshold and end lights have very low power requirements and can even be powered off of a car cigarette lighter. The reflectors, which are small high-tech plastic flags, can be seen from up to 3km away using the light given off by aircraft landing lights, and the threshold and end lights alone are visible from up to 5km away. Used alone or as a back-up system for conventional runway lights, this product will no doubt save lives in storm or emergency situations.
The applications for island owners are numerous, as Landing Eyes are tailor-made for situations where electricity is unavailable, particularly valuable in remote or storm-prone regions. And with this system, night flights to and from islands are now possible even before island development has brought in utilities.
