Replacing position light bulbs

[Mutts]

Any rental pilot/flying club types out there carrying spare postion
light bulbs with them? Do you have to be an A&P to change them? Do
owners frown on replacing bulbs without being informed first?
How hard is it to change them on Archers and 172s?
Its getting old finding the lights burned out during preflight and
everything is closed.

[Troy Towner]

Two words... Preventative maintenance. :)

-Blue skies and a tail wind

"Mutts" > wrote in message
...
>
> Any rental pilot/flying club types out there carrying spare postion
> light bulbs with them? Do you have to be an A&P to change them? Do
> owners frown on replacing bulbs without being informed first?
> How hard is it to change them on Archers and 172s?
> Its getting old finding the lights burned out during preflight and
> everything is closed.

[Peter Duniho]

"Mutts" > wrote in message
...
>
> Any rental pilot/flying club types out there carrying spare postion
> light bulbs with them? Do you have to be an A&P to change them? Do
> owners frown on replacing bulbs without being informed first?

No, you don't have to be an A&P. I don't have an airplane on leaseback, but
if I did, I would expect that a renting pilot would either get the FBO/club
mechanic to change the bulb if the airplane was home, or change it
themselves if the airplane was not and lights were required for their
flight.

In other words, I'd prefer that renting pilots not change bulbs (or do other
preventative maintenance that involves removing airplane parts) but
realistically, most renting pilots are entirely competent to handle the task
and would certainly be expected to do so if the task was required for safe
and legal flight.

> How hard is it to change them on Archers and 172s?

Never changed them on either of those types, but on my own plane, it's no
harder than changing the tail light, signal, etc. bulb on a car. Usually
just a couple of screws to remove for the lens, and the bulb pops right out.
The hard part is finding the right bulb. Landing and taxi lights are
slightly harder, but still within most folks abilities.

Now, all that said, if you are frequently finding the bulbs burned out, you
may want to rethink who you're renting airplanes from, or at least suggest
to the airplane owners/operators that there might be something causing the
bulbs to fail prematurely. I've owned my airplane for nearly ten years now,
and have only had to replace two bulbs, both of them nav lights.

Pete

[Dale]

In article >,
Mutts > wrote:

> Any rental pilot/flying club types out there carrying spare postion
> light bulbs with them? Do you have to be an A&P to change them? Do
> owners frown on replacing bulbs without being informed first?
> How hard is it to change them on Archers and 172s?
> Its getting old finding the lights burned out during preflight and
> everything is closed.

If you do change the wingtip bulbs take care. The glass lens used is
easily dropped as you remove the retainer and is expensive to replace.
Been there, done that. <G>

--
Dale L. Falk

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing around with airplanes.

http://home.gci.net/~sncdfalk/flying.html

[Mark Astley]

Mutts:

- You do not have to be an A&P to change bulbs. See FAR 43.3(g) and FAR 43
Appendix A.
- Renting: tell the FBO to change it, it's their job (i.e. your rental price
includes "maintenance"). If you're away from home and you need the light to
be legal, most FBOs will let you have the work done if you call and consult
with them first. In any case, they will most certainly require that an A&P
do the work.
- Flying Club: every club is different but most have a specific maintenance
policy spelled out in their charter.
- Is it difficult? Not really, but with older planes you're more likely to
find rusted out/stripped screws, etc. This is why you should make the FBO
or some other "pro" do it as they'll have the tools on hand. Otherwise, add
a drill and some spare screws to your flight bag. If you're flying
something less than ten years old then disregard.

cheers,
mark

"Mutts" > wrote in message
...
>
> Any rental pilot/flying club types out there carrying spare postion
> light bulbs with them? Do you have to be an A&P to change them? Do
> owners frown on replacing bulbs without being informed first?
> How hard is it to change them on Archers and 172s?
> Its getting old finding the lights burned out during preflight and
> everything is closed.

[Ron Natalie]

"Mutts" > wrote in message ...
>
> Any rental pilot/flying club types out there carrying spare postion
> light bulbs with them? Do you have to be an A&P to change them? Do
> owners frown on replacing bulbs without being informed first?
> How hard is it to change them on Archers and 172s?

The bulbs are trivial to replace and is an owner/pilot permitted maintenance.
While your skirting legality doing it in a rental, if I had the bulb I would certainly
not hesitate to do it if it meant having to otherwise cancel a night or IFR flight.

[Peter Duniho]

"G.R. Patterson III" > wrote in message
...
> > Two words... Preventative maintenance. :)
>
> Which can be done by the owner, not a renter.

It can also be done by the renter, as long as the renter only works on the
airplane being operated by him (which is the scenario in question here).

If the airplane is used for Part 135 service, the renter is technically not
allowed to. However, if I were that renter, and I couldn't find an approved
mechanic to do the work, I would still do it myself and let the FBO know
that some non-Part 135 service had been performed on the airplane.

Heck, for that matter, I'd let the FBO know what I'd done regardless and
make them pay for the bulb.

Pete

[G.R. Patterson III]

Troy Towner wrote:
>
> Two words... Preventative maintenance. :)

Which can be done by the owner, not a renter.

George Patterson
Great discoveries are not announced with "Eureka!". What's usually said is
"Hummmmm... That's interesting...."

[Blanche]

Dale > wrote:
>If you do change the wingtip bulbs take care. The glass lens used is
>easily dropped as you remove the retainer and is expensive to replace.
>Been there, done that. <G>

And under no circumstances touch the new bulb with your fingers! Use
gloves or something (shirt tail?) Oil & sweat from your fingers is
not good for the bulb. In fact, if you have the box the bulbs come
in, that warning is printed (or should be) on the box.

[Ron Natalie]

"Blanche" > wrote in message ...
> Dale > wrote:
> >If you do change the wingtip bulbs take care. The glass lens used is
> >easily dropped as you remove the retainer and is expensive to replace.
> >Been there, done that. <G>
>
> And under no circumstances touch the new bulb with your fingers! Use
> gloves or something (shirt tail?) Oil & sweat from your fingers is
> not good for the bulb. In fact, if you have the box the bulbs come
> in, that warning is printed (or should be) on the box.

It's not going to be a problem for most position like bulbs. They have
regular glass envelopes and they don't burn hot enough to make a
difference. Quartz-halogen bulbs are a different story. The quartz
envelope on these will soften from the oils in your hands. Note that
this applies only to instances where you touch the envelope directly.
Your Q4559 bulb actually has a glass enclosure around the whole
thing (so that it will fit into the same form factor as the traditional
4559). You couldn't touch the envelope if you wanted.

[Ron Natalie]

"G.R. Patterson III" > wrote in message ...

> The pilot of a rental aircraft is not the operator. The operator is the owner or
> an agent (such as an FBO) who rents out the aircraft to that pilot.

Nope, the pilot of a rental aircraft IS the operator. You can't be an operator
without a pilot, ownership or other legal control of the aircraft is specifically called
out in the definition as not mattering. Despite the O in FBO, they are rarely an
operator by the FAR definition.

The real issue is that you must make the appropriate maintenance records and
many renters don't have access to the logs.

[G.R. Patterson III]

Peter Duniho wrote:
>
> It can also be done by the renter, as long as the renter only works on the
> airplane being operated by him (which is the scenario in question here).

The pilot of a rental aircraft is not the operator. The operator is the owner or
an agent (such as an FBO) who rents out the aircraft to that pilot.

George Patterson
Great discoveries are not announced with "Eureka!". What's usually said is
"Hummmmm... That's interesting...."

[Blanche]

Hm...I thought the position lights were the red/green on the wingtips.
I keep a set of all bulbs for replacement and the boxes are clearly
marked not to handle with bare hands. Mine aren't halogen tho.

strange...

[James M. Knox]

Blanche > wrote in news:1072752966.368381
@irys.nyx.net:

> Hm...I thought the position lights were the red/green on the wingtips.
> I keep a set of all bulbs for replacement and the boxes are clearly
> marked not to handle with bare hands. Mine aren't halogen tho.
> strange...

It is strange... Those bulbs are not as fragile as the average 60 watt
household lightbulb. Yeah, it's always nice to keep them clean of
fingerprints and oil, but considering all the dirt and oil on them that
tends to work its way past the seals... I suspect it's a *generic*
warning/suggestion.

The ones you really should be careful of are the strobes, since those are
usually about the only high intensity ones where you can actually get your
fingerprints on the inner shell.

-----------------------------------------------
James M. Knox
TriSoft ph 512-385-0316
1109-A Shady Lane fax 512-366-4331
Austin, Tx 78721
-----------------------------------------------

[Peter Duniho]

"G.R. Patterson III" > wrote in message
...
> The pilot of a rental aircraft is not the operator. The operator is the
owner or
> an agent (such as an FBO) who rents out the aircraft to that pilot.

Please reread the regulation (I'm assuming you read it once already). The
regulation is not talking about an "operator" in that sense. They simply
mean the pilot who is actually operating the airplane.

[Peter Duniho]

"Ron Natalie" > wrote in message
m...
> It's not going to be a problem for most position like bulbs. They have
> regular glass envelopes and they don't burn hot enough to make a
> difference.

I suppose it just depends on the bulb. The new tail nav light on my
airplane, when I changed it, came in a box covered in dire warning about not
handling the bulb directly. Just like the bulbs for overhead projectors and
other halogen bulbs.

Probably lots of other planes use less fragile bulbs. But one shouldn't
assume that's the case with a given airplane.

Pete