L’Illa de l’Aire – Isla del Aire lighthouse
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Technical data
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History
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360 degrees
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Images/Videos
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Public domain
Technical data
Latitude N
39.799453000000
Longitude E
4.293133000000
Nominal range
18 nautical miles
Height above sea level
53 m.
Light pattern
Isolated flashes every 5 seconds.
Daytime appearance
Black and white striped tower attached to white building. Height 38 m.
History
At first the lighthouse used a 2nd order optic manufactured by the Sautter firm producing a light pattern of white flashes every minute. Was designed by Emili Pou. It was opened on Agost 15, 1860.
On the 13th April 1859, when the lighthouse was still being built, a boat transporting workers to the island sank with the loss of one of the seamen.
In 1911 the old oil burning lamp was replaced by an 85mm Chance petrol lamp as the result of which the lighthouse keeper had to travel to the Llebeig lighthouse on Dragonera Island where the first Chance lamp in the Balearic Islands had been installed the year before, in order to learn how to use it.
It was the tallest lighthouse in the Balearic Islands until the lighthouse at Muscater in Ibiza was built in 1977 with a focal plane of 35.3 m above ground level and a spiral staircase with 165 steps. It is still the tallest stone lighthouse.
In November 1957 a new aero-maritime lantern was installed and in 1965 the old optical assembly (the only one still to rest on a circular support on wheels) was replaced with a new one made by the Pintsch firm with a mercury flotation tank and emitting a light pattern consisting of isolated flashes every 5 seconds. In 1974 the Chance petrol lamp was replaced with an automatic gas assembly from the lighthouse at La Nao which from 1976 onwards meant that lighthouse was unmanned.
In 1995 a solar-powered lighting system was installed. This was one of harshest postings in the Islands due to its isolation.
Three lighthouse keepers along with their families were forced to live in close quarters and tension was often rife.
Audioguides
Images/Videos
Videos
Public domain
Nearest lighthouses
Balearic Lighthouses
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Mallorca
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Cabrera
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Sa Dragonera
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Formentera
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Menorca
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Eivissa
