A set of PAPI lights on MBK Airfield's runway threshold.
The precision approach path indicator (PAPI) is a system of lights on the side of an airport runway threshold that provides visual descent guidance information during approach. Specifically, the indicator shows an aircraft if it is too high or too low to hit the correct landing spot on a runway.
Modelled on the real-life system, PAPI in Second Life makes use of four angled red/white lights which indicate whether the pilot is too high, too low, or on the correct glide-path. The greater number of red lights visible compared with the number of white lights visible in the picture means that the aircraft is flying below the glideslope. To use the guidance information provided by the aid to follow the correct glide slope a pilot would manoeuvre the aircraft to obtain an equal number of red and white lights.
See also
- Visual approach slope indicator (VASI).