The research department was asleep on this one

The science section of the NY Times asked this question:

Is it true that airport runways are lined with blue lights because blue light can be seen from the longest distance?"

They go on to answer that in fact yes, the human eye is particularly well adapted to seeing blue-green lights at night. One might infer that is why airports are marked the way they are.

Of course, airport runways are NOT lined with blue lights. Runways are lined with very bright white lights most of its length and yellow for the last 2000 feet. (If the runway is less than 4000 feet long, the last half is lined with yellow.)

Taxiways are lined with blue lights with green down the center line. They are typically dimmer than the runway lights as well.

Of course, taxiways are not the part of the airport that is critical to see from the air. But the dim soft blue color is easy on the eyes when you are making the long taxi out to the end of the runway at night.

So the human eye may be well adapted to seeing blue-green light at night, but if a pilot thought those blue and green lights marked a runway he or she would be in for a surprise. The Times needs better quality control on the science questions.