I had the same problem on my Comanche with a long row of identical
switches at the bottom of the instrument panel. Two switches in the
middle of the row controlled the left and right wing tip landing
lights. At night, one could not see which switch controlled what. I
slid a short piece of clear plastic tube over the toggle of those two
switches so they feel different from all the others. I have not had a
problem since.

Hank
Henry A. Spellman
Comanche N5903P

Teacherjh wrote:

Another acronym I have - in the piper archer and dakota I fly, the row of
identical switches (awful design, but all too common) are labeled, but in the
dark, in a rush, in a blur, one can't read the labels. So I use FLAP

In order, left to right (after the master) is
Fuel pump
Landing light
Anticollision (strobe) lights
Pitot heat.

So now it's not gas, it's fuel. But it works.

I once played with a device which was cobbled together from old parts of this
and that (it set up and ran Conway's game of Life on the TV screen), and it had
about four switches, but they were all different. It was a cinch to operate
because each function was assigned to a different KIND of switch. I could tell
by feel what everything did. Smart aircraft designers should do the same. (in
fact, all aircraft designers should take a lesson from this - it's not limited
to throttle, mixture, pitch, flap, and wheel)

Jose

--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)