FAA officials were at the Penn Yan Airport Wednesday to inspect its first-in-the-nation test of a solar lighting system. The Penn Yan Airport has a traditional lighting system, but many smaller airports lack the money or infrastructure for lights powered by the electric grid. The solar lights are not being used by pilots coming into the airport, but officials at the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center in Egg Harbor, New Jersey wrote a computer program that turns the lights on and off in a pattern resembling what would be seen in actual use. Actual airport lights are triggered by arriving pilots, who key their microphones to turn the lights on. Since the lights are only for test purposes, for the time being, FAA engineers went to great lengths to ensure the test lights would not interfere with normal airport operation.