Jay Honeck wrote:
AeroLEDs is introducing a new high intensity LED wing-tip landing/
recognition light at Oshkosh 2007.


Dang it, Dean, you had me going for a while, but for two things:

- Non-certified. Can't use it in my plane.
- Price. $850 (for 2) buys a whole bunch of Q4509s.

Jay..

I feel compelled to chime in here. While my flying hours have slacked
off significantly in the past 3-4 years as I've spent most of my money
and time doing an experimental build, I've got about 500 hours, and well
over 1/4 of that was at night.

I bought a high intensity discharge landing light for our project and
installed it in the nose of the velocity. Scratch that.. i bought a TAXI
light.. not the landing beam.

The Taxi beam with HID was still able to illuminate further forward
than the halogen or quartz incandescent landing lights, and in addition
gave me wider coverage than the "spot" landing beams.

From 100 yards away, the beam is still bright enough in daylight to
leave spots in your vision when you look at it.

And I paid around $400 for it. But its power draw is less than the
regular incandescent bulbs, and its got a bulb life that is supposed to
be over a thousand hours.

I intend to leave it on for the duration of most of our flights -
day, night, only switch it off if/when flying ifr causes reflection in
the cockpit. I expect a big increase in the ability of other folks to
see me, especially in the congested Houston area terminal airspace.

The benefits? a LONG time between having to change out bulbs, not
having to execute a night landing with the relatively frequent risk of a
burnt out bulb, then landing and taxiing in the dark. If I chose not to
use the bulb 100% of the time, and only for takeoff, landing and ground
ops, it likely would be a lifetime bulb, good for the life of the
airframe. Even in the past two years, when i've flown less than 40 hours
combined, I've had two burnt out bulbs on the rentals I was flying. Try
buying a bulb on sunday when you have to get home sunday night. Not
required for non commercial ops, but how often does the average pilot
PRACTICE landing with no landing light, particularly at a field with
minimal lighting?

So yes. These new fangled bulbs - both LED and HID - cost a bunch
more. But you are very likely buying a device that will last for years
on your airframe, and outperforms the $10 "disposable" landing lights
hands down.

To me, its worth it. To you, if you fly VFR Day, nice weather only,
it may never be an issue. Had we been at a different point in our build
(we are doing engine testing now, and shopping for DAR's) I would have
been VERY interested in putting high intensity LED position lights in
our wingtips for ground visibilty and in-flight anticollision purposes.

Also, the noncertified issue can be addressed through field
approvals. I've heard they've gotten much more difficult lately,
depending on where you are. But once one person has it, its easier for
the next to get it based on their data.

Dave