ABSTRACT

This chapter addresses the relationship of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the regulatory requirements for marking structures, acceptable methods of marking and monitoring and proper maintenance and offers insights on how to limit exposure to liabilities beyond simple compliance to the published requirements. Monitoring of aviation obstruction lighting is addressed by both the FAA and FCC and may be accomplished by either visually inspecting the tower lighting or through the use of automatic remote sensor technology. Aviation obstruction lighting is normally required for night time marking on structures over 200' AGL and is often required on shorter structures due to various circumstances including proximity to airports/airfields/helipads, coastal regions, low-altitude flight lanes, AMSL height, and many more influences. Acceptable daytime markings are aviation orange and white paint bands or white flashing lighting. Red lighting of any type is not an acceptable method of daytime marking.