Whelen ROTA-BEAM Family History

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
@dmathieu - thought you might find this interesting:
View attachment 241126
I always wondered if Whelen made a rotating ground/tower light. They made a prototype in LED when the rotabeam LED came out (need to find those pics). Cool info.

Airport "rotating" ground light led tech
airport-beacon-green-white.png
 
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JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
Wow! Go big or go home :)
I never saw a video, but I understood that it looked like it was rotating, but didn't serve its purpose. Apparently rotating beacons at airports are supposed to throw visible beams out, not just look like rotation when viewed directly.
 

stansdds

Member
May 25, 2010
3,533
U.S.A., Virginia
I never saw a video, but I understood that it looked like it was rotating, but didn't serve its purpose. Apparently rotating beacons at airports are supposed to throw visible beams out, not just look like rotation when viewed directly.
Correct, airport beacons cast beams of light so as to be visible at long distances and have some degree of penetrating haze or mist. Airport beacons usually feature Fresnel lenses in order to focus the beam, sort of light lighthouse beacons, but small beacons use sealed beam type lamps.
 
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Correct, airport beacons cast beams of light so as to be visible at long distances and have some degree of penetrating haze or mist. Airport beacons usually feature Fresnel lenses in order to focus the beam, sort of light lighthouse beacons, but small beacons use sealed beam type lamps.
The difference being “coherent“ light, e.g. laser beams. Fresnel lenses focus light beams onto a, somewhat, coherent beam that can be seen for miles (a la lighthouse beams) and as of now, leds are no where that level of technology. The green/white airport beacons were designed for the very early days of commercial aviation (even before radio beacons) to assist air mail carriers ID airports at night (keep ‘em flying). I recall as a young child growing up in Saint Matthews, I could see the beacons from Bowman Field (2.75 miles) and Standiford Field (now Mohammad Ali Field, 7.5 mile away) crossing in the night sky. I can also recall seeing Lockheed Constellation aircraft flying in to Louisville...TWA…Pan Am….
 
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JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
The difference being “coherent“ light, e.g. laser beams. Fresnel lenses focus light beams onto a, somewhat, coherent beam that can be seen for miles (a la lighthouse beams) and as of now, leds are no where that level of technology. The green/white airport beacons were designed for the very early days of commercial aviation (even before radio beacons) to assist air mail carriers ID airports at night (keep ‘em flying). I recall as a young child growing up in Saint Matthews, I could see the beacons from Bowman Field (2.75 miles) and Standiford Field (now Mohammad Ali Field, 7.5 mile away) crossing in the night sky. I can also recall seeing Lockheed Constellation aircraft flying in to Louisville...TWA…Pan Am….
There is an airmail site complete with the giant ground arrow near-ish to me. The LEDs in the prototype I posted are a great example of different applications requiring different methods. Just because it appears to be rotating doesn't mean it casts the beams as required.

arrow.JPG
 
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ur20v

Member
Feb 3, 2017
571
Northern Virginia
Something you may or may not know about airport beacons is that they are also used for identification. Public airports use a two lamp beacon in white and green while public heliports use a three lamp beacon in white, yellow, and green. Military airfields also use a three lamp beacon, but in white/white/green. There are a few other variations but those three are the most common. Private airfields and heliports may have different colors and patterns depending on the state.

I haven't held a valid medical in 10+ years, but I still remember this stuff... no wonder I can't remember anything I learned recently. I probably need a hard drive upgrade.
 

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