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Used lights from large airports illuminate smaller facilities

About every 20 years or so, on average, large airports in Idaho receive funds from the Federal Aviation Administration to upgrade their lighting systems. In those cases, Idaho's Division of Aeronautics coordinates with the municipality owning the airport to salvage components of runway and taxiway lighting systems. These spare parts, in turn, are donated to smaller airports to meet needs or provide a level of service not known before.

Before, the old components had been hauled to the landfill or sold for scraps.

Small airports in Parma and Rockford are the most recent beneficiaries. Parma now has the fixtures, and is waiting for funding for a regulator and wiring. Rockford is slated to install its "new" system donated by McCarley Field (Blackfoot) this fall. This will allow night operations at that airport for the first time.

Other examples:
- Emmett Municipal airport received a voltage regulator from Lemhi County/Salmon Airport
- Friedman Memorial airport (Hailey) donated nearly new internally lighted guidance signs to Nampa, Caldwell
- Stanford Field airport (St. Anthony) in 2015 received several boxes of used fixtures from the Idaho Falls Regional Airport to repair snowplow damage to the light system

"Hundreds of bulbs, lenses, frangible mounts and fixtures have been sent to small airports around Idaho," said Division of Aeronautics Aviation Tech. Mark Lessor (pictured, right) . "Nearly every component of lighting systems has value as a recycled item, so beyond re-use or repair, those fixtures avoid the landfill."

Lessor estimates savings to Idaho's smaller airports, which are often the most financially strapped, to be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Pictured immediately above are spare directional signs from the Caldwell airport. Above that are spare signs at the Division of Aeronautics in Boise.