Michael Nuemaker: Is the FAA in charge of airfield lighting at airports and how are outages documented and replaced?

The vast majority of airfield lighting at most airports are inspected by airport operations every night. An Airport Operations Supervisor will drive on each taxiway and runway and document the outages of each individual light and sign, then issue work orders and if necessary the proper NOTAMs. Once the work request is issued, airfield maintenance will arrange a date to fix the outages. If the runway is equipped with CAT II/III approach equipment, then ATC may seek authorization from Airport Operations to use it during inclement weather. During these times, the Tower must switch from commercial power to generator power and the runway lighting must be inspected every two hours to ensure compliance with FAA regulations, which is also done by an Airport Operations Supervisor.

The FAA is responsible for their navigational equipment, such as the ILS system itself and approach lights prior to the threshold of each runway which is performed on a needed basis by them.