Landing Lights at NAPA

Anybody old enough to fly a plane already knows tits are expensive.

Yeah, I'm STILL paying for mine.

Did you notice that the NAPA bulb didn't have the tit on the back that
the aviation bulb of the same number had? The tit fits into a notch
in the sheet metal that the bulb goes into and aligns the filament in
a certain orientation.

There is no notch in the Skycraft light "socket" -- so the lack of a tit or
two doesn't matter.

Er, so to speak...

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

I'd buy a dozen, jack up the price, sell them to your FBO, and tell them
they are getting a hell of a deal! It would serve them right.

Yeah, I like to support my local FBO, but when they start jacking prices of
consumables 250% over retail, I tend to get ****ed.

It's just dumb business.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

My A&P showed me that the $50 air filter she put in is the same
filter that NAPA sells for $10. Should I or shouldn't I?


Trip


In article , says...

"Don Tuite" wrote in message
.. .
Did you notice that the NAPA bulb didn't have the tit on the back that
the aviation bulb of the same number had? The tit fits into a notch
in the sheet metal that the bulb goes into and aligns the filament in
a certain orientation.

When I put a NAPA bulb into our 235, our mechanic worried aloud that
if we had a crash and the crash investigators found the titless bulb,
there'd be trouble. (And of course, the landing-light assembly would
inevitably survive the crash,thanks to Murphy.)

Just make sure that if you crash that you destroy the titless bulbs. ;-)

-Greg B.

If its really the same...


Mike
MU-2


"TripFarmer" wrote in message
...
My A&P showed me that the $50 air filter she put in is the same
filter that NAPA sells for $10. Should I or shouldn't I?


Trip


In article , says...

"Don Tuite" wrote in message
. ..
Did you notice that the NAPA bulb didn't have the tit on the back that
the aviation bulb of the same number had? The tit fits into a notch
in the sheet metal that the bulb goes into and aligns the filament in
a certain orientation.

When I put a NAPA bulb into our 235, our mechanic worried aloud that
if we had a crash and the crash investigators found the titless bulb,
there'd be trouble. (And of course, the landing-light assembly would
inevitably survive the crash,thanks to Murphy.)

Just make sure that if you crash that you destroy the titless bulbs. ;-)

-Greg B.

Jay Honeck wrote:
: In discussing our relatively new Skycraft landing lights (the
: cut-into-the-leading-edge-of-the-wings type) here the other day, I noted
: that I had just burned out a GE 4509 after around 35 hours. This surprised

GE states the expected life of a 4509 is 25 hours. Sounds like you did
pretty good! PS, bulbs direct or some web site like that has them for $8 each
in quantity 1. (The GE brand, that is, not the Wagner).

--
Aaron C.

Jay,
The 4509 and Q4509 have the same power requirement and should be
interchangeable. Did you check the Q4509 bulb to make sure that you
did not get a bad one? There is no reason that Q4509 can not be used
in place of 4509.

We have used both 4509 and Q4509 for landing/taxi lights as well the
Galaxy brands also ordered from Aircraft Srpuce which are much cheaper

11-02219 GALAXY 4509 LAND.LIGHT BULB $7.95
11-02220 GALAXY 4509Q HALOGEN LAND LGT $19.85

The 4509 is rated for 25 operating hours vs 100hrs for the Q4509.
Shortly after we bought the plane, both the taxi light and landing
light burned out. We contacted the previous owner for information on
what bulbs to get and he told us in all 9 years of owning the plane and
flying hundreds of hours, he had never changed any bulbs. He recalled
flying about 5hrs at night in all those years. It's most likely that
he did not turn the lights on except at night time. One of the
instructors introduced Rick to the idea of living the landing light on
ALL THE TIME for safety reason. This is the source of contention for us
for a while until we switched to the long lasting quartz light. Rick
reasons that $10 or so every 25hrs, the light bulbs are cheap insurance
against collision. My counter argument is that leaving them on all the
time will increase the chance that the darn bulbs are burned out when
you really need them. So our compromise is that we will use the Q4509
and Rick will only turn on one light (not both) during takeoffs,
landing and enroute in poor visibility or at night.

Yes, I have read seen reports that one can use NAPA's tractor bulb
equivalent but since the Galaxy 4509 is even cheaper than autopart
store price, why bother?

Hai Longworth

The 4509 and Q4509 have the same power requirement and should be
interchangeable. Did you check the Q4509 bulb to make sure that you
did not get a bad one? There is no reason that Q4509 can not be used
in place of 4509.

The lights that burned out on me were both regular GE 4509s that came
with the Skycraft kit. I've replaced one of them with the Q4509 (that
I ordered from Spruce, before I knew the second light was going to burn
out, too), and the other with a regular "NAPA" 4509 bulb, which I
bought when the second original 4509 burned out.

I've not burned out a Q4509 in a very long time. (The nose-light --
now rarely used -- is a Q4509, and it's been in there for, well, I
can't remember how long.)

Yes, I have read seen reports that one can use NAPA's tractor bulb
equivalent but since the Galaxy 4509 is even cheaper than autopart
store price, why bother?

Well, the one I bought at NAPA is not a tractor light -- it says
"aircraft bulb" on the box -- but I sure do like your price better.

I wonder where the Galaxy bulb is made? (Both the GE and NAPA/Wagner
lights are made in the USA.) I'll bet it's Chinese, to be SO much
cheaper.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay, you haven't posted a recent photo of Atlas with the new landing
lights installed in the wings, have you? (front view)

john smith wrote:
Jay, you haven't posted a recent photo of Atlas with the new landing
lights installed in the wings, have you? (front view)

Here ya go:

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/skycraf...ing_lights.htm

(I've since painted them, so they aren't bare aluminum anymore...)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"