Lights. When to use them?

[bunraku]

Hi

Lights. There's a lot of them. Taxi Lights, Nosewheel lights, Anti Collision Lights,Formation Lights etc etc

 

And the controls are not always in the same part of the cockpit. So my questions is what lights are valid in what situation. When are they used and also are they only used at particular times of day?

 

Thanks

[Kimi_uy]

I'd say it depends on some variables. Nonetheless, these might help:

 

When doing startup, position lights to flash (left console, lighting panel).

When ready to taxi, taxi/landing lights on if nighttime (front dash, left side). Turn them off while holding short of runway to not confuse inbound a/c.

 

When ready to take the active runway: pos lights to steady, anti-collision lights on. Same setting when airborne.

 

Formation lights are dependant of the flight lead really, usually left on at night. Same for nose illumination (right console, lighting panel, just aft of the formation lights dial).

 

Refueling lights, ON at night when doing AAR (left console, fuel panel, refueling light dial), this will light up the refueling bay in the nose of the a/c and illuminate the engines' intakes. Also when doing aar i turn off the anticol, to avoid disturbing the virtual boom operator XD

 

With NVGs on, it would depend on the flight lead ig he wants anti collisions off.

 

And when fenced in everything goes off.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Kimi_uy

[Razor18]

Hi

Lights. There's a lot of them. Taxi Lights, Nosewheel lights, Anti Collision Lights,Formation Lights etc etc

 

And the controls are not always in the same part of the cockpit. So my questions is what lights are valid in what situation. When are they used and also are they only used at particular times of day?

 

Thanks

 

No offense, but it's pretty much explained in their names, isn't it? A bit more to it, that as I can remember usually at night any lights that have both flash OR steady option are switched to steady instead of flash (and anti-collision strobe off), not to disturb wingmans eye with flashing the powerful lights in a pitch dark. Flashing is rather helpful (and less hurtful) in a daylight recognition from a distance.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Razor18

[bunraku]

No offense, but it's pretty much explained in their names, isn't it? A bit more to it, that as I can remember usually at night any lights that have both flash OR steady option are switched to steady instead of flash (and anti-collision strobe off), not to disturb wingmans eye with flashing the powerful lights in a pitch dark. Flashing is rather helpful (and less hurtful) in a daylight recognition from a distance.

 

None taken, but I wouldn't say it's as clear as all that. Anti collision when I already have Taxi or Nose wheel lights on? Are people blind that they can't see the first 2?

 

Thanks again

[bunraku]

I'd say it depends on some variables. Nonetheless, these might help:

 

When doing startup, position lights to flash (left console, lighting panel).

When ready to taxi, taxi/landing lights on if nighttime (front dash, left side). Turn them off while holding short of runway to not confuse inbound a/c.

 

When ready to take the active runway: pos lights to steady, anti-collision lights on. Same setting when airborne.

 

Formation lights are dependant of the flight lead really, usually left on at night. Same for nose illumination (right console, lighting panel, just aft of the formation lights dial).

 

Refueling lights, ON at night when doing AAR (left console, fuel panel, refueling light dial), this will light up the refueling bay in the nose of the a/c and illuminate the engines' intakes. Also when doing aar i turn off the anticol, to avoid disturbing the virtual boom operator XD

 

With NVGs on, it would depend on the flight lead ig he wants anti collisions off.

 

And when fenced in everything goes off.

 

Much appreciated. Thanks for the detailed reply.

[Razor18]

None taken, but I wouldn't say it's as clear as all that. Anti collision when I already have Taxi or Nose wheel lights on? Are people blind that they can't see the first 2?

 

Thanks again

 

May I take the courage to remind you, that this is a flight sim, not a driving sim, so you spend 98% of your time flying, with your gears up, which makes all your lights on the nosegear pretty much useless against collisions? ;) Even if you would fly with your gears down - which you don't - still there are all kinds of relative collision directions, not just the head on ones, and obviously, not just on the ground. And if you are in the air, there can be collisions from any direction for both aircrafts colliding. If you have steady lights on, then it is still more difficult to spot your aircraft, than if you have flashing lights on. It's also true at daylight, because as a wise man said once: "The speck that DOESN'T move on the canopy will kill you", because it is moving straight towards you apparently (even if you are just on co-altitude but on a convergent headings), and without visible sideway motion, it remains on the same spot of the canopy, till you collide mid air, if you don't realise any movement, even with his steady lights on, day or night. That's why anti collision lights are flashing. If you hear an airliner overhead at night, look up, and try to find it. You might see the wingtip lights also, but the real catchy feature will be the flashing, just try it. :)

[SnorreSelmer]

I'd just like to make a few comments on this excellent summary, using experience from my time as a CCA on the F-16 in the Royal Norwegian Air Force.

 

When doing startup, position lights to flash (left console, lighting panel).

Having the position lights (red/green) flash signals to everyone around you that the aircraft is "live" in some form or another (some form of engine running, even APU), and should be considered potentially dangerous (weapons, engine intake/exhaust etc).

When ready to taxi, taxi/landing lights on if nighttime (front dash, left side). Turn them off while holding short of runway to not confuse inbound a/c.

Not sure how this is done in other countries, but SOP as far as I can remember was to have them on even during daytime. Helps ground-crew see the aircraft even better when taxiing (for service vehicles etc). Also, they were left on all the time (one less thing to remember when coming in for landing, so the tower can visually verify that all three landing-gears are deployed). ATC takes care of incoming aircraft, so that shouldn't be a concern for planes waiting to take off (but I can see this as a potential night-op issue).

When ready to take the active runway: pos lights to steady, anti-collision lights on. Same setting when airborne.

In my experience, anti-collision lights (strobes) are turned on as soon as the aircraft starts rolling (from ramp/shelter). Anti-collision lights = "I'm moving".

 

The rest of this list is beyond my knowledge. ;)

 

Why the elaborate procedures? While we used radios to communicate, the line-taxis (the mini-buses that transported pilots and ground-crew to each shelter) couldn't communicate with ATC or pilots directly, so they relied on these "codes" to know what was going on. It did happen (though very rarely) that the line-taxi had to vacate the taxi-way (drive onto the grass next to the taxi-way) because of oncoming aircraft.

Edited January 29, 2016 by SnorreSelmer

[Kimi_uy]

Thanks for the comments Snorre!

The flashing pos lights at start only lit up if the apu/ground power/engine gens are on, so it does make a lot of sense what u said.

About the landing lights in taxi, I know thats SOP for some cases and other not. Does it depend on the type of airfield?

[SnorreSelmer]

About the landing lights in taxi, I know thats SOP for some cases and other not. Does it depend on the type of airfield?

I don't know. I never read any documentation on this at that time, nor did I care much why. The only important thing was to know what it meant and how to respond.

[NeilWillis]

Doctrine may also be different within different countries. Some virtual Squadrons turn the position lights to steady during taxiing, and anti collision lights on only before entering the active runway.

 

Minor details really, but as long as you turn position lights to flash prior to starting the APU, use anti collision lights prior to take off, and formation lights when required, you won't go far wrong. All lights off when tactical, naturally.

[SnorreSelmer]

...but as long as you turn position lights to flash prior to starting the APU...

That's a great habit. I should try to alter my cold-start procedure to implement this.

[Kimi_uy]

^ yup.

[bunraku]

Thanks again for the info guys.

[ajsarge]

From personal experience with transport aircraft, I can talk to landing and anti-collision lights. I'm not familiar with nav lights, but that may be because we don't change them once they're set prior to takeoff.

 

Anti-collision lights go on prior to engine start. This is saying that "this plane is live, engines running, so be careful," to everyone in the vicinity and to the tower. In the A-10, I don't think you can even turn on the exterior lights without the APU or engine generators providing power, and we don't run them on my jet with only our APU running.

So, anti-collision on just before engine (not APU) start, anti-collision off immediately after engines stop.

If you're air refueling, you turn off anti-collision lights prior to your pre-contact radio call, so as to not blind the boom operator.

 

Landing/taxi lights go on for taxi as required, and stay on for takeoff/landing. If you're holding short of the runway, you turn your lights off in consideration of landing aircraft and turn them back on when cleared to line up and wait, or takeoff. Because the A-10 landing lights are linked to the landing gear, having them on 100% of the time doesn't hurt. I see them go on with gear down, and off with gear up. In real life, if they don't turn off with the gear raised, you'd turn them off via switch to keep them from overheating. Otherwise, you're supposed to have landing lights on below 10,000ft altitude, except for tactical considerations where you're on NVG or covert lights into a dark field and don't want to be seen.

[Justice_AA]

Just a quick reminder that the HOTAS pinkie switch controls the lights as well. I bound Exterior Off and Panel Config to my joystick for easily killing the lights when I am clear the airport.

 

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[BravoYankee4]

Perhaps not applicable to all military service...

 

 

4-3-23. Use of Aircraft Lights

a. Aircraft position lights are required to be lighted on aircraft operated on the surface and in flight from sunset to sunrise. In addition, aircraft equipped with an anti-collision light system are required to operate that light system during all types of operations (day and night). However, during any adverse meteorological conditions, the pilot-in-command may determine that the anti-collision lights should be turned off when their light output would constitute a hazard to safety (14 CFR Section 91.209). Supplementary strobe lights should be turned off on the ground when they adversely affect ground personnel or other pilots, and in flight when there are adverse reflection from clouds.

 

b. An aircraft anti-collision light system can use one or more rotating beacons and/or strobe lights, be colored either red or white, and have different (higher than minimum) intensities when compared to other aircraft. Many aircraft have both a rotating beacon and a strobe light system.

 

c. The FAA has a voluntary pilot safety program, Operation Lights On, to enhance the see-and-avoid concept. Pilots are encouraged to turn on their landing lights during takeoff; i.e., either after takeoff clearance has been received or when beginning takeoff roll. Pilots are further encouraged to turn on their landing lights when operating below 10,000 feet, day or night, especially when operating within 10 miles of any airport, or in conditions of reduced visibility and in areas where flocks of birds may be expected, i.e., coastal areas, lake areas, around refuse dumps, etc. Although turning on aircraft lights does enhance the see-and-avoid concept, pilots should not become complacent about keeping a sharp lookout for other aircraft. Not all aircraft are equipped with lights and some pilots may not have their lights turned on. Aircraft manufacturer's recommendations for operation of landing lights and electrical systems should be observed.

 

d. Prop and jet blast forces generated by large aircraft have overturned or damaged several smaller aircraft taxiing behind them. To avoid similar results, and in the interest of preventing upsets and injuries to ground personnel from such forces, the FAA recommends that air carriers and commercial operators turn on their rotating beacons anytime their aircraft engines are in operation. General aviation pilots using rotating beacon equipped aircraft are also encouraged to participate in this program which is designed to alert others to the potential hazard. Since this is a voluntary program, exercise caution and do not rely solely on the rotating beacon as an indication that aircraft engines are in operation.

 

e. Prior to commencing taxi, it is recommended to turn on navigation, position, anti­collision, and logo lights (if equipped). To signal intent to other pilots, consider turning on the taxi light when the aircraft is moving or intending to move on the ground, and turning it off when stopped or yielding to other ground traffic. Strobe lights should not be illuminated during taxi if they will adversely affect the vision of other pilots or ground personnel.

 

f. At the discretion of the pilot­in­command, all exterior lights should be illuminated when taxiing on or across any runway. This increases the conspicuousness of the aircraft to controllers and other pilots approaching to land, taxiing, or crossing the runway. Pilots should comply with any equipment operating limitations and consider the effects of landing and strobe lights on other aircraft in their vicinity.

 

g. When entering the departure runway for takeoff or to “line up and wait,” all lights, except for landing lights, should be illuminated to make the aircraft conspicuous to ATC and other aircraft on approach. Landing lights should be turned on when takeoff clearance is received or when commencing takeoff roll at an airport without an operating control tower.

 

[SnorreSelmer]

Excellent information! This is getting printed for future reference.

 

Also, this is why I love this forum. So many "flight-nerds" that can contribute so much interesting information.

 

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