Can we get a flag added to force runway lights, especially end lights to always be above ground? Rarely do you ever see in-pavement runway lights, especially end lights, especially at the thousands of smaller airports used for General Aviation. A simple toggle to force them above ground would be great.
Note that on US airports, end (threshold) lights for most smaller runways are mostly limited to three for visual runways or four for instrument runways on a side, well outboard of the centerline. If the threshold is displaced or there is useable taxiway, they will be completely outboard of the pavement (this is not usually the case for unuseable pavement like blast pads and stopways). Only when paired with an approach light system (ALS), they go all the way across, and those are often on a separate circuit from the end lights used in VFR conditions (meaning those are only operable when the ALS is on).
The current form is a bit of an immersion-breaker, especially when it renders as mixed in-pavement and post-style.
Reference: Advisory Circular AC-150-5340-30J (PDF) appendix A-1 thru A-11 (pages 187-197 of the PDF).
Here’s a typical example of the end-light issue. As you can see four of the lights are in-pavement and two are above. This is at the end of a displaced threshold at a typical small GA airport in the US, where in-pavement lights would not be used.
And here is the threshold demarcation bar, with too many end lights (should be three per side) and one is forced in-pavement for no apparent reason.
The overall effect is a dilapidated-looking row of end lights, which is not realistic and quite immersion-breaking.
I can provide thousands of examples of this. All it would take to fix it is a checkbox/switch to always force runway lights above ground. Or even better, start with a default of above-ground, and provide a switch to allow for in-pavement runway edge and end (threshold) lights.
To add to this request: the same checkbox (force in-pavement) should be added to taxiway edge ligthing. There are often cases where the lights are not on the green but on the apron, and there they should be level with the ground.
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It really comes down to the difference between large and mid-to-small airports. The sim and SDK seems to have been designed primarily with either large or very small (think bush strip) airports in mind. But there are thousands of small and medium “regional” or municipal public airports in between, especially in the US.
A lot of these use, shall we say, economical construction. But to be fair, most of them were built in a time period where above-ground lighting was the standard and the only technology that existed. To retrofit, which requires a resurface at the minimum, is extremely cost-prohibitive. That said, you do see some do that, using current tech and standards as they expand and/or rebuild runways.
I’m hoping to bring attention to this, because a lot of them (again, thousands) need some World Hub love to be more accurate, but if accuracy is the goal, the current process is going to be a time-sink involving tricks and workarounds.
