Landing Light SOP

nteresting. I've never used my landing light on departure, except
near major airshows (OSH, Sun N Fun) where it's often requested.

Do others here do so?


Always. What would be the rationale for not doing it when you do it
during approach?

None, really, I suppose. Except that it's called a "landing light" -- not a
"departure light."

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jose wrote:

Come to the FAA's attention and they will do so. So will the insurance
companies. One comes with paperwork, the other doesn't.

The paperwork on a new part is the receipt. There is no requirement that the
purchaser keep the receipt. So, the FAA cannot and will not "do so."

George Patterson
Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your neighbor.
It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

Greg wrote:

North America car light standards are poor.

That's because what works well in Boston (or, as you state, Canada) doesn't work
well in Florida. Having much in the way of lighting standards in North America
is a poor idea.

George Patterson
Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your neighbor.
It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

Jay,

None, really, I suppose. Except that it's called a "landing light" -- not a
"departure light."

:-)


Nice recovery... ;-)

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

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There are many pilots with many different operating practices. Here is
mine:

1a) Landing & Taxi lights:
Leave the Landing Light off until calling ready for departure to the
Tower. (nighttime only)

1b) Landing lights only:
Use the lights anytime (at night) on the ground

2) Leave them on until I land. It's promotes visibility of my plane,
even if a minute amount. I do this during day or night flights. On a
LONG x-c, in relatively unpopulated space, I might consider turning off
the light.

My preference would be to get a flasher for the landing lights so I can
have the best of both worlds--longer bulb life and enhanced visibility
to others.

Chris G.
PP-ASEL 8-27-05
www.k7sle.com


kristoffer-m20j wrote:
When ever possible I try to follow the same SOP as the BIG BOYS. With
that being said what is the SOP for airliners when it comes to turning
on the landing light. Is it altitude based, distance etc...

Kristoffer
1993 M20J MSE
http://homepage.mac.com/kristofferp/flying


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90% of the wear on a bulb is the inrush current when you turn it on. A
landing light flasher without an inrush current limiter is an excellent way
to burn out bulbs faster. None of the commercially available flashers I am
aware of use ICLs.

Jim



My preference would be to get a flasher for the landing lights so I can
have the best of both worlds--longer bulb life and enhanced visibility
to others.

RST Engineering wrote:
90% of the wear on a bulb is the inrush current when you turn it on. A
landing light flasher without an inrush current limiter is an excellent way
to burn out bulbs faster. None of the commercially available flashers I am
aware of use ICLs.

Hey Jim -- If you can stand looking at this horrible website for a
minute, what do you think of the Pulsar?

http://www.avtek2.com/pulsar_info.htm

Mike (the owner) is very active on the Cherokee Pilots Association, and
several folks who have this flashing unit say that their bulbs last
damn-near forever. Does that mean they use ICLs?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Mon, 31 Oct 2005 13:03:52 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

nteresting. I've never used my landing light on departure, except
near major airshows (OSH, Sun N Fun) where it's often requested.

Do others here do so?


Always. What would be the rationale for not doing it when you do it
during approach?

None, really, I suppose. Except that it's called a "landing light" -- not a
"departure light."

:-)

In that case maybe it should only be used for landing and not
approach!!!!

I fly out of EGPE and the most used runway is 23. The VFR main route
South (towards the Loch Ness Monster!) means many inbound flights are
on a reciprocal heading, descending whilst you're climbing. That's in
addition to commercial traffic coming into uncontrolled airspace plus
helicopter medical & commercial traffic in the vicinity of the town
directly ahead. And for fun there's the military having fun too.

So that's military 200ft to 1000ft, helicopters 1000ft to 2000ft and
VFR cimbing and descending. Add to that the Scottish weather and it
can be interesting looking for grey against grey under a grey
overcast. Then there's the low sun (sometimes) in your eyes at this
time of year.

Guess I'll keep using the landing, approach or take-off light often!

I really can't tell. He claims to have "five stages of filtering" whatever
that means. He also says that the filament never really turns off, so there
is no thermal shock to the filament in the on-mode. But a dimming scheme
such as this is probably using some sort of pulse width modulation in the
"off" mode to dim the filament without heat buildup. I'd call it a dimmer
rather than a flasher -- dim, bright, dim, bright, and so on.

Seems to me that with any form of filtering there is going to be an
unavoidable heat loss in the inductors; that area under the curve is power,
and if the area goes down that power had to go somewhere. If it's not
light, it's heat.

It is an interesting product, but if I had to deal with that gawdawful web
page more than five minutes, I'd download it and read it in the original
html.

If you can get Mike to come on over here and discuss the internal
mechanisms, I'd be interested in finding out if my guess is correct. Of
course, five minutes with the product and an oscilloscope would be all it
would take also.

Jim




"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...

Hey Jim -- If you can stand looking at this horrible website for a
minute, what do you think of the Pulsar?

http://www.avtek2.com/pulsar_info.htm

Mike (the owner) is very active on the Cherokee Pilots Association, and
several folks who have this flashing unit say that their bulbs last
damn-near forever. Does that mean they use ICLs?

("RST Engineering" wrote)
Hey Jim -- If you can stand looking at this horrible website for a
minute, what do you think of the Pulsar?

http://www.avtek2.com/pulsar_info.htm


It is an interesting product, but if I had to deal with that gawdawful web
page more than five minutes, I'd download it and read it in the original
html.


Found this testimonial (w/mid-air pictures) on the Halloween site from Hell.

http://www.avtek2.com/Mid-Air%20Collision.htm

"Hi Mike,
I bought your pulsar unit several weeks ago, and I am still very pleased.

As for the mid-air, which occurred 11-26-00 over Katy Texas,
I was asleep in the right seat of my 172 and a pilot friend was flying.

A 150 collided with us, his right wing broke free and he was fatally injured
as his plane fell onto Interstate 10. His right wing pulled my right landing
gear out of my plane and his propeller cut the outer 7 feet of my right wing
loose and it buckled under. The impact was like turbulence, and not very
loud. The ensuing spin was more dramatic to me.

I awoke and flew. 3 spins and 14 minutes later we landed. My 172 was not
totaled and is probably flying again now. 2 hunters were in a field below us
and they were making a video of their bird hunting and looked up. I have
that 7 foot piece of wing in my hanger now and I look at it before every
flight.

I hope my thoughts help you to be an even better pilot, Ed Oppermann
(This is my "pulsar equipped" plane !!)"


Montblack