PAPI/VASI/OLS, ALS - landing lights needed.

[jjansen]

The airstrips in KSP really need some proper lighting, and have for a long time.

The KSC airstrip is of particular interest due its progression in Career mode: it starts out with a dirt runway, graduating to some pavement and then tarmac so well-graded and so perfectly flat that the far ends are further away from the planet's center of gravity than the middle is, causing it to act like giant shallow valley into which planes gently roll. (you guys might wanna look into that)

 

So, since you have that history in Career, why not use this progression to show off the different landing lights through the ages?

 

Let's start at the present with PAPI - Precision Approach Path Indicator: the most modern of indicator lights, they're a cluster of four sets of lights off to one side of the runway (usually left, sometimes right if necessary, like to avoid being placed on a taxiway as above), right off of the TDZ (touchdown zone) of the runway. All red, you're dead, red on white, you're all right, etc.

These are the most modern landing lights and currently are being phased in everywhere that old VASI lights exist, so they should be only on the L3 landing strip.

 

VASI, Visual Approach Slope Indicator, has only 3 outputs: high, low, and on course. It therefore lacks 40% of the precision of the newer PAPI system and is thus being phased-out in favor of it. It would fit neatly into use both on the Dessert and L2 landing strips.

 

The Optical Landing System, OLS or, "meatball" as any one who's interacted with an LSO in a carrier-based flight sim will recognize, is smaller and much simpler, with a light appearing to move up and down between two green bars that is largely ignored (or used only as a backup) due to the watermark and flightpath indicator being what a pilot is looking for when trapping on a 3-wire.

It belongs on an aircraft carrier, really. Since there are none in-game, it might fit well and add an air of mystery next to the Island Airfield.

 

Lastly, the KSC landing strip REALLY needs these (and don't forget the American custom of the Decision Bar toward the end. Those are cool!). It's because we don't have them that I have to do this every career I plan on using the airstrip:

Those are flags that I put out in a meticulously straight line, every 150m from the runway on both sides, just so I could get a decent IFR glidescape at night. It's visible at maximum zoom out in craft mode, and maximum zoom in in Map mode. This next save I'm just gonna edit my .sfs to paste the flags in.

 

The L1 airstrip naturally would have none of these, it being simply a dirt path.

 

 

So, what do you Devs say? You've already got the TDZs marked. Plenty of real estate around to drop some lights, huge quality of life improvement and not just for night flights but planes in general.

[jimmymcgoochie]

There’s a mod called PAPI Lights that does exactly what you’re looking for. I think Kerbinside adds functional(?) landing lights either end of the KSC runway too, not sure about others but it does add a bunch of extra airfields too which might interest you.

[jjansen]

12 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

There’s a mod called PAPI Lights that does exactly what you’re looking for. I think Kerbinside adds functional(?) landing lights either end of the KSC runway too, not sure about others but it does add a bunch of extra airfields too which might interest you.

Yeah, I use it. Others have come and gone, and it doesn't cover the issue with the lack of ALS.

 

This needs to be default, and to grow with KSC.

Edited May 6, 2021 by jjansen

[Cavscout74]

It would be nice to see something in stock - and the VASI for level 2 & PAPI for level 3 makes total sense.

Approach lighting would be nice, but not having it isn't that big a deal for me.

[jjansen]

On 5/6/2021 at 6:13 PM, Cavscout74 said:

Approach lighting would be nice, but not having it isn't that big a deal for me.

Once you use it, you'd hate to lose it. Hence, my flag system (which I hacked my .sfs' and copy-pasted into a new career first thing. Got world firsts for traveling supersonic when the flags moved to mesh level from L3 to L1 runway)

[kerbiloid]

Not a real ALS, of course, but still atmospheric. In both senses.

 

[jjansen]

21 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Not a real ALS, of course, but still atmospheric. In both senses.

 

Cool.

A modeled VASI-PAPI progression with ALS indicators should be stock.

If you have a runway, aircraft and space planes stock, you should have a stock way to land them safely.