Marshalling Aircraft in Low-Light Conditions
At times fixed-wing aircraft will land after dark and may require base personnel to marshal them with little or no visibility.
Discuss the low-light operations at your base utilizing the following points.
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What job aids, equipment, and facilities exist at your base to assist with parking aircraft in low-light conditions?
- Are the job aids, equipment, and facilities operating correctly and readily available?
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Equipment failure during low-light operations could be catastrophic. Discuss the base procedures for inspecting low-light equipment.
- Are ramp radios and headsets ready for extended use?
- How do low-light conditions affect spatial distortion and distance recognition?
- What measures can you take to ensure that the aircraft you are guiding is parked exactly where you want it?
- Identifying the spot where you want the location of the nose wheel can be difficult under low-light conditions.
- Are there objects that taxiing aircraft might get near which would require additional Fixed Wing Parking Tenders (FWPT)/wing walkers?
- Have all FWPTs visited all possible off-ramp locations in daylight (day off/maintenance parking) that could potentially be used for low-light parking?
- Have any of the ramp staff not marshalled aircraft in low-light conditions before?
- 10 & 18 Poster, PMS 110-18
- 10 Standard Firefighting Orders, PMS 110
- 18 Watch Out Situations, PMS 118
- Interagency Standards for Fire and Fire Aviation Operations (Red Book)
- NWCG Incident Response Pocket Guide (IRPG), PMS 461
- NWCG Standards for Helicopter Operations, PMS 510
- RT-130, Wildland Fire Safety Training Annual Refresher (WFSTAR)
- Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center
Have an idea or feedback?
Share it with the NWCG 6MFS Subcommittee.