Definition
A system that allows pilots to activate and adjust the intensity of certain airport lighting—typically runway edge lights, approach lights, and visual glide slope indicators—directly from the cockpit by keying the aircraft's radio transmitter on a designated frequency, usually the airport's CTAF or UNICOM. Standard activation uses 7, 5, or 3 microphone clicks within 5 seconds to select high, medium, or low intensity respectively, and each activation keeps the lights on for 15 minutes.
Plain English
At many smaller airports, the runway lights aren't on all the time. The pilot turns them on by quickly clicking the radio transmit button several times on the airport's published frequency. More clicks means brighter lights. The lights stay on for 15 minutes, then shut off unless reactivated.
Context Anchor
Seen in night flying, airport information, and preflight planning when a pilot needs to know how runway and taxiway lights will be available.
Why Pilots Care
Allows pilots to ensure adequate lighting for safe takeoff and landing at airports without staffed control towers.
Intuition Check
Do not read “control” here as controlling the airplane. In this phrase, “control” means operating the airport lighting system—turning lights on, off, or changing their brightness.
Example Sentence 1
Approaching the non-towered airport at night, the pilot tuned the CTAF and clicked the microphone seven times to bring the runway lights up to high intensity.
Example Sentence 2
Before the night approach, the student reviewed control of airport lighting procedures to avoid arriving at a dark runway.