HARLINGEN — Looming in the rainy haze, new high-intensity runway lights were made to cut through dark days like Friday, when storms passed through the Valley.
The lights also serve as a signal for a new phase at Valley International Airport, a safer approach for pilots and a tighter window for landing in bad weather.
The light system is known by its acronym, MALSR (pronounced MAL-sur), and will satisfy Federal Aviation Administration regulations and eventually allow the airport more leeway when it comes to diverting flights.
“The MALSR comes into play when the FAA will not allow you to go below 300 feet and three-quarters of a mile visibility without a visual aid, and that’s where we installed the runway approach lights,” Bryan Wren, assistant director of aviation at VIA, said Friday at the airport.
The new lighting system, which cost around $600,000, will allow Valley International to reduce the minimums for pilots to a 200-foot landing height and a half-mile visibility.
It may not sound like much, but Wren said it should virtually end pilots flying into Valley International from having to divert their planes from Harlingen to Corpus Christi or Houston. Valley International has between a half-dozen and 12 diversions every year.
“November to February are our foggy months, and the wind is at a south-flow and planes need to land north-flow,” Wren said.
The new system, he said, will virtually end diversions due to fog or heavy rain.
The lights work like this: The MALSRs can be dimmed and brightened depending on how dark the day is, just like a rheostat in your dining room.
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