Definition
Lights installed flush with the runway surface to provide visual guidance to pilots during takeoff, landing, and rollout in low-visibility conditions. In-runway lighting includes runway centerline lights, touchdown zone lights, taxiway turnoff lights, and runway remaining indicators, each using specific colors and spacing to convey position information along the runway.
Plain English
Lights set into the runway surface itself — not on poles or beside the runway — that help pilots see where they are on the runway when visibility is poor.
Context Anchor
Seen in airport lighting descriptions, night operations, low-visibility operations, and runway diagrams or briefings.
Why Pilots Care
These lights reduce the risk of runway misalignment or excursion during low-visibility operations by giving immediate visual cues for position and direction.
Intuition Check
Do not read this as any lighting near a runway. In-runway lighting means lights built into the runway surface itself.
Example Sentence 1
Cleared for the Category II approach, the crew briefed the in-runway lighting they would see at decision height, including the centerline lights changing from white to alternating red and white near the end.
Example Sentence 2
In-runway lighting becomes essential when fog reduces the view of runway edge lights from the cockpit.