Preflight planning is supposed to include all available information pertinent to the flight. However, I often depart for a new-to-me airport without knowing whether I can successfully exit the runway and taxi to the ramp. Why? I fly a motorglider with a 58' wingspan and about 34" of ground clearance at the tips. Most runways do not present a problem, but runway exits and taxiways tend to be much narrower, putting the lights to either side closer as well. The AFD and other sources provide no information on spacing across the pavement of lights, nor a clue as to how high they are. Somewhere there must exist a standard, but I've been unable to find it in writing. I was told by a guy from an airport engineering firm, that the standard lighting is 30" high, place 10' past the edge of the pavement. My home field seems to follow this scheme as the taxiway is 35' wide, lights 30" high, and have a 55' gap between. (Yes, my span is wider than that gap. In practice, because of the crown, I clear the lights by a whole 8 to 12 inches though). This “rule” is helpful, but also nowhere in the AFD, Foreflight, etc. will you find info on the width of taxiways either. Neither does it seem to necessarily apply to northern fields which have taller lights for clearing snowbanks.
Yes, I can try to scale from Google Maps, but with no height information. Yes, I can call ahead, but it's unlikely that anyone, even at their home field, can, or is willing to, answer definitively. Sailplane pilots look for alternate or destination landing airports face the same problem. While I've yet to be stuck on a runway, it's happened to some within my circles and referred to as the “walk of shame”. (Get out, spin the ship around, and take off again, assuming you have enough fuel remaining. Or, in the case of a center-wheeled glider, rock one wing at a time over the lights).
Can anyone suggest an alternate source of such taxiway information, or, dreaming here, get it included in some future AFD revision?