Diesel9959 Posted March 4, 2023 Posted March 4, 2023 I'm thinking my question may not be a bid deal but I've been curious about the proper way to use the position lights. What's the correct or accepted way to set them for either flashing or steady? When are the anti-collision lights normally used? I'm aware it may not be a big deal to some, but if I can do it correctly then I'll feel better about knowing I may be improving in the DCS world. If that makes sense... 1
jaylw314 Posted March 4, 2023 Posted March 4, 2023 There's not any publicly available 'correct' that I've seen, I suspect it's up to the individual squadrons. Flashing position lights have no meaning in civil aviation, so I imagine (wild guess) that they're not used in National Guard squadrons that share airports with civilian aircraft.
Diesel9959 Posted March 4, 2023 Author Posted March 4, 2023 I never knew if flashing vs steady should be one way or another when stationary during start up or when taxiing.
Yurgon Posted March 4, 2023 Posted March 4, 2023 I assume it's squadron-dependent. However, what I've seen so far across several DCS squadrons is: During start-up, position lights flashing. Once both engines are up and running, position lights steady. They remain steady all the way until shutdown (of course external lights off during fence-in, and on again at fence-out). Anti collision lights, best I can tell, last aircraft in formation sets them On before takeoff, all others keep them off. But again, that's probably very squadron-dependent. 2
A10Yoda Posted March 4, 2023 Posted March 4, 2023 6 hours ago, Diesel9959 said: I'm thinking my question may not be a bid deal but I've been curious about the proper way to use the position lights. What's the correct or accepted way to set them for either flashing or steady? When are the anti-collision lights normally used? I'm aware it may not be a big deal to some, but if I can do it correctly then I'll feel better about knowing I may be improving in the DCS world. If that makes sense... The purpose of the lights is for communication. If Tower sees two A10's taxing and cannot make out Board numbers, etc.. Tower can request flashing lights to identify a particular aircraft visually. That said, Flash is commonly, or was, used for startup of the aircraft and steady lights when the aircraft is ready to taxi. Anti-Collision lights are used when taxing anywhere were there high-visibility is needed for maintainers and other logistical equipment to avoid taxing aircraft. Each airfield has standard operating procedure to follow. I hope that helps some.. 1 2
ASAP Posted March 4, 2023 Posted March 4, 2023 (edited) Based on everything I’ve read/heard/seen for military aircraft: position lights flash and strobe off on the ground, steady and strobes on right before taking the runway, back to flash and strobe off after landing. Edited March 4, 2023 by ASAP
Diesel9959 Posted March 4, 2023 Author Posted March 4, 2023 Thanks everyone for helping me understand a little better. I know it's a small thing but I wanted to learn to do things a little better.
jaylw314 Posted March 4, 2023 Posted March 4, 2023 4 hours ago, ASAP said: Based on everything I’ve read/heard/seen for military aircraft: position lights flash and strobe off on the ground, steady and strobes on right before taking the runway, back to flash and strobe off after landing. I guess that makes sense since there's no flashing red or white anticollision light with the strobes off. I have to admit, if I was a civilian pilot taxiing at night at Fort Wayne Airport, I'd be pretty puzzled by a plane with a green flashing light, though
ASAP Posted March 4, 2023 Posted March 4, 2023 2 hours ago, jaylw314 said: I guess that makes sense since there's no flashing red or white anticollision light with the strobes off. I have to admit, if I was a civilian pilot taxiing at night at Fort Wayne Airport, I'd be pretty puzzled by a plane with a green flashing light, though They’d also have their formation lights, nose lights and taxi lights on so they’d be lit up like a Christmas tree and be pretty hard to miss.
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