Lack of Approach Lighting System At Juan Santamaría Major Cause of Diverted Fligths
In a follow up to our story of Saturday "Why Airplanes Can't Land In Fog in San José", it appears the reason that most airliners cannot land at the Juan Santamaría International airport in fog is that the airport lacks a working Approach Lighting System (ALS).

An approach lighting system,is a lighting system installed on the approach end of an airport runway and consists of a series of lightbars, strobe lights, or a combination of the two that extends outward from the runway end.

The Approach Lighting System assists the pilot in transitioning from instrument to visual flight, and to align the aircraft visually with the runway centreline.

 The flashing sequenced strobe leads towards the runway and is nicknamed "the rabbit." Pilots break out of the clouds and announce to the tower, "I have the rabbit."

Without the ALS, a pilot, in heavy fog, cannot line up the aircraft with the runway properly.

A pilot for TACA consulted by Insidecostarica.com, told us that there has been talk about installing a ALS at San José for the past two years, but nothing is definite yet.

Meanwhile,airlines have to continue to divert their flights and the added cost and inconvenience to travellers when the fog does not allow the pilot the visual at 200 feet.