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Air carrier first officer reported a bright billboard with flashing lights on the final approach to runway 18R at mem. The billboard is very distracting and about one mile from the end of the runway along I-240 facing north.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1313959 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201511 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0001-0600 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | MEM.Airport |
| State Reference | TN |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Night |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Widebody Transport |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Final Approach |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | First Officer Pilot Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Inflight Event / Encounter Other / Unknown |
Narrative:
On approach to 18R into mem there was a very bright billboard with flashing lights along I-240 right underneath the final approach; approximately one mile from touchdown. The brightness of this billboard was enough that I had to remove one hand from the control yoke in order to block the light. It was bright enough to illuminate the cockpit and caused a distraction for me in a critical phase of flight. Once the aircraft had passed over the billboard; the flight continued and landed uneventfully. Businesses need to advertise; billboards serve that purpose. But having a two million candlepower led billboard pointed in the direction of an approach to land is not conducive to safety. The addition of shades attached to the top of the billboard that would prevent the light from reaching a vertical component would serve the purpose of being visible to the people on the ground without affecting the pilots.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Air carrier First Officer reported a bright billboard with flashing lights on the final approach to Runway 18R at MEM. The billboard is very distracting and about one mile from the end of the runway along I-240 facing north.
Narrative: On approach to 18R into MEM there was a very bright billboard with flashing lights along I-240 right underneath the final approach; approximately one mile from touchdown. The brightness of this billboard was enough that I had to remove one hand from the control yoke in order to block the light. It was bright enough to illuminate the cockpit and caused a distraction for me in a critical phase of flight. Once the aircraft had passed over the billboard; the flight continued and landed uneventfully. Businesses need to advertise; billboards serve that purpose. But having a two million candlepower LED billboard pointed in the direction of an approach to land is not conducive to safety. The addition of shades attached to the top of the billboard that would prevent the light from reaching a vertical component would serve the purpose of being visible to the people on the ground without affecting the pilots.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.