Do we have taxi lights?

[Kosta]

Sorry if it's been asked before, quick search in the EA guide didn't show anything about it.

 

Was doing a night mission (the Tank Hijack exactly) and couldn't see almost anything while taxi to the runway. Did I missed the switch or we don't have it yet?

 

Yes, I know NVG's can resolve this situation also but I am curious about it

[Minsky]

1 hour ago, Kosta said:

Did I missed the switch or we don't have it yet?

Chinook uses the searchlight as a taxi light.

[Kosta]

3 hours ago, Minsky said:

Chinook uses the searchlight as a taxi light.

Oh great to know, thank you Minsky!

[Nealius]

One thing I've always wondered about these searchlights in all helicopters: how does the operator know that the light itself is completely stowed or extended to the desired position (mainly in the day when the ground illumination isn't visible)? There's no cockpit indication of the light's position or stowed/unstowed status.

[Minsky]

4 hours ago, Nealius said:

One thing I've always wondered about these searchlights in all helicopters: how does the operator know that the light itself is completely stowed or extended to the desired position (mainly in the day when the ground illumination isn't visible)? There's no cockpit indication of the light's position or stowed/unstowed status.

It's not critical to anything, so why would you need to know that?

You put the switch into retracted position and forget about it. On the Apache this switch is a combined on/off/stowed switch. On the Chinook you have the additional filament switch for that extra peace of mind.

Even the fast fliers, where the additional drag and speed restrictions related to extended lights are of much greater concern, don't have that separate indication.

[Nealius]

1 hour ago, Minsky said:

It's not critical to anything, so why would you need to know that?

In the Apache, for example, if you press the extend command too long it's pointed more upwards and is thus useless once approaching the ground during a landing phase.

1 hour ago, Minsky said:

You put the switch into retracted position and forget about it.

The retraction keybinds in DCS don't work like this unless you map them to a physical switch. You have to hold the key command/HOTAS button down and guess when it's been completely stowed because once you let off the keybind/button, the movement stops. In the Huey, Hip, and Chinook I always have to check external view to know when I can stop holding the retract command down. Thus the reason for my question. So in real life it's clearly a nonissue. In DCS it looks like the keybind behavior needs to be tuned so a single press of the key command will fully retract the light.

Edited March 16 by Nealius

[Minsky]

1 hour ago, Nealius said:

In the Apache, for example, if you press the extend command too long it's pointed more upwards and is thus useless once approaching the ground during a landing phase.

The retraction keybinds in DCS don't work like this unless you map them to a physical switch. You have to hold the key command/HOTAS button down and guess when it's been completely stowed because once you let off the keybind/button, the movement stops. In the Huey, Hip, and Chinook I always have to check external view to know when I can stop holding the retract command down. Thus the reason for my question. So in real life it's clearly a nonissue. In DCS it looks like the keybind behavior needs to be tuned so a single press of the key command will fully retract the light.

Ah, apologies then, thought we were talking about the real helicopters!

Guess it's similar to operating the speedbrakes on certain jets: hold the button for X seconds to ensure full retraction. A nuisance, but one gets used to it.

Although in the Apache I don't bother retracting the searchlight until shutdown. There is no harm in leaving it OFF but extended, neither in DCS nor in reality. Only the certain precautions for having it ON (and none of them matter in DCS).

In spite of all that, I would be lying if I claimed I've never pressed F2 to figure out where the heck my searchlight is pointing before moving it to the desired position

Edited March 16 by Minsky

[47_Driver]

On 3/15/2025 at 9:32 PM, Nealius said:

One thing I've always wondered about these searchlights in all helicopters: how does the operator know that the light itself is completely stowed or extended to the desired position (mainly in the day when the ground illumination isn't visible)? There's no cockpit indication of the light's position or stowed/unstowed status.

In the real aircraft, we fly with the searchlights extended at about 45deg. On the newer software versions there is an indicator on the MFD if the searchlight is on in case you lost where it is and don't realize you still have it on, which happens all the time lol. Also, when the Searchlight switches are turned off on the overhead panel, the searchlights automatically retract and stow. No need to manually stow them.

[DD_Friar]

I have been trying to get this activated as well.

I have the light control panel to On

I have mapped a button to extend and retract the light, which works.

I am just struggling to find how I turn it on! :)

Any guidance very welcome.

Salute

Friar

[JohnW71]

13 hours ago, DD_Friar said:

I have been trying to get this activated as well.

I have the light control panel to On

I have mapped a button to extend and retract the light, which works.

I am just struggling to find how I turn it on! :)

Any guidance very welcome.

Salute

Friar

Look for the bindings for SRCHLT and POSN, I can't check in game right now but got this working with (I think) POSN BRT & DIM, and SRCHLT on/off. Something like that  Anyway, hope you find something that works for you in those areas.

Edited May 9 by JohnW71

[DD_Friar]

@JohnW71 Salute Sir for the reply.

Don't know what happened (issue with keyboard / Computer interface I suspect) but I thought I had made an edit to my original post. After having a proper look I found the required key bindings and now have a fully working spot light.

regards

DD_Friar