General lights question

[Whistler_RIO]

in every aircraft, flashing lights are engaged before you turn on your engine. thats to warn bystanders so they dont get sucked into your engine 

[Jackjack171]

9 minutes ago, Whistler_RIO said:

in every aircraft, flashing lights are engaged before you turn on your engine. thats to warn bystanders so they dont get sucked into your engine 

Except on the Flight deck of a carrier.

[Slant]

On 5/16/2022 at 7:01 AM, Jackjack171 said:

Except on the Flight deck of a carrier.

Luckily, you can't turn your engines on without your crew chief telling you to, so hopefully he's paying attention to random people walking near the intake or exhaust.

[Jackjack171]

25 minutes ago, Slant said:

Luckily, you can't turn your engines on without your crew chief telling you to, so hopefully he's paying attention to random people walking near the intake or exhaust.

Blue wands mate...blue wands! Hasn't been implemented yet and probably never will.

[Nealius]

Adding more specifics to what Victory said, and this is somewhat fuzzy memory based off what a Hornet crew told me:

During daytime boat and shore, only anti-collision lights are on (specifically on at cat launch on the boat, on at engine start on shore). Position and formation lights off. Landing light as required on shore--off on the boat, obviously. There was something about only lead needing his lights on bright, while the wingmen could have lights off or dim.

However, there's a lot of post-2000 footage showing F-14Ds, Legacy Hornets, and Rhinos operating off the boat in daytime with all lights off. I'm sure SOP is fluid depending on timeframe and AO. 

Victory covered the night stuff, so the only thing I'll add is that the Navy considers "night" to be 30 minutes prior to sun below the horizon until 30 minutes after sunrise.

At least that's how it was explained to me by Navy crew.

Edited July 22, 2023 by Nealius

[Coota0]

Does the anti-collision light stay on at night for cat shots? 

We turn either turn off our anti-collision light or will turn off the lower anti-collision light when operating on the trees to avoid the inconsistent shadows thrown by the lights causing an issue with pilots.

[Whistler_RIO]

On 7/22/2023 at 2:27 PM, Coota0 said:

Does the anti-collision light stay on at night for cat shots? 

We turn either turn off our anti-collision light or will turn off the lower anti-collision light when operating on the trees to avoid the inconsistent shadows thrown by the lights causing an issue with pilots.

all lights are extinguished on a carrier at night in deep-water operations. this is to keep from being seen from space/altitude/land and giving away position.  you turn on your lights as a replacement for the salute just before you are launched off the boat.

btw there is nothing complex about Dim vs Bright.  bright is for daytime. dim is for nighttime.

[Home Fries]

20 hours ago, Whistler_RIO said:

all lights are extinguished on a carrier at night in deep-water operations. this is to keep from being seen from space/altitude/land and giving away position.  you turn on your lights as a replacement for the salute just before you are launched off the boat.

btw there is nothing complex about Dim vs Bright.  bright is for daytime. dim is for nighttime.

Yeah, they take darkened ship policy pretty seriously.  The F-14B not having to launch in AB was huge because the AB plumes can be seen for miles at night.