Narrative:

While de-icing in new bern; nc the ground crew marshalls you into a dedicated de-icing area northeast of runway 22. Either the company or the airport has installed a giant 1000 watt halogen light at ground level that blasts the flight crew with blinding light; so bad that you cannot even see the marshaller. This is a major safety issue in several ways........1) it kills all the appropriate chemicals in your eyes that provide you with proper night vision to safely conduct night operations; and 2) it is so blinding that you cannot see the marshaller's commands. When I communicated to the ground crew to turn off the light; so I could see the marshaller; they did do so. The bigger concern here is that the station has mandated that this light be on for de-icing purposes. This light poses a huge threat to safety due to poor planning; and use of it. If the intent is to light the area; it needs to be on a 20-40 ft pole elevated in the air; shining downwards; not at ground level destroying pilots' night vision; and blinding the crew during night operations. Improper facilities; management or airport operations installing equipment without any pilot input on the matter. Told them to shut the light off..........but it is their local procedure to leave it on. Remove; or de-activate the light; or put it on a pole; elevated high in the air shining downward as it should be placed this way; not 10 ft directly in front of the cockpit shining directly into the pilots' eyes.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier Captain describes an extremely bright light in the deice pad at EWN; that is placed near ground level and aimed directly at the cockpit. The light makes it impossible to see the Marshalls directions and destroys night vision.

Narrative: While de-icing in New Bern; NC the ground crew marshalls you into a dedicated de-icing area northeast of runway 22. Either the company or the airport has installed a giant 1000 watt halogen light AT GROUND LEVEL that blasts the flight crew with blinding light; so bad that you cannot even see the marshaller. This is a major safety issue in several ways........1) it kills all the appropriate chemicals in your eyes that provide you with proper night vision to safely conduct night operations; and 2) It is so blinding that you cannot see the marshaller's commands. When I communicated to the ground crew to turn off the light; so I could see the marshaller; they did do so. The bigger concern here is that the station has mandated that this light be on for de-icing purposes. This light poses a HUGE threat to safety due to poor planning; and use of it. If the intent is to light the area; it needs to be on a 20-40 FT pole elevated in the air; shining downwards; NOT at ground level destroying pilots' night vision; and blinding the crew during night operations. Improper facilities; Management or airport operations installing equipment without any pilot input on the matter. Told them to shut the light off..........but it is their local procedure to leave it on. Remove; or de-activate the light; or put it on a pole; elevated high in the air shining downward as it should be placed this way; not 10 FT directly in front of the cockpit shining directly into the pilots' eyes.

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.