NZFF

Hi All,

Could somebody tell me where can I find the general rules of using the aicraft lights (when do you have to use beacons, strobe, etc etc)? I want to use them properly...You know...REALISM,REALISM and REALISM!

Cheers

I'm not sure if this is right, but what I've come to belive is

Nav/wing/logo lights on at the gates
Beacon/taxi lights on during pushback and taxi
Strobe and landing lights on when entering the runway, beacon and taxi lights off
Landng lights and stobe out above 10,000ft

That's at least what I gather is real, been told, or looks right to me.

Yeah it's something like what peppermint has said, as far as i know it's beacon on when starting.
Then taxi during the taxiing
Once in the air I'm pretty sure you keep the landing lights on until 10,000ft, and nav an strobe after that.
I'm not 100% on how it goes but yeah someone else is bound to correct me.

Wing/Nav lights = On at all times
Logo = Only on during night times or when visibility is low
Beacon = when aircraft is starting engines and in motion
Taxi = at the Start of taxiing and are on until the aircraft is airborn from my understanding.
Landing = Turned on at the holding point for the runway and turned off above 10,000ft.
Strobes = Turned on at the holding point and remain on until exiting the runway at the destination airport

This info may not be entirely correct, but it's my understanding of it

Beacon before startup... left on until shutdown.

Nav lights + Strobes are not 'required' during the day, but either Nav lights or Anti-Col's are required at night (refer CAR 91.233 and 91.511)... At night Nav Lights are turned on after startup and before taxiing... and the taxi/landing light would be flashed twice (and left on) to let people know you are moving (and to make taxiing in the dark easier )...

Strobes go on when lining up on the runway... as mentioned, they're not required during the day, but as I am paranoid, I will use strobes during the day if the aircraft has them... anything that makes me more visible = Good... turn them off after landing and having vacated the active runway...

Landing Light is turned on when lining up... turned off after landing and having vacated the active runway...

The airlines have the 'on under 10,000ft' rule... most of the GA guys around Ardmore switch this off when vacating the MBZ... however, as my PPL flight examiner said to me during my test flight "You can leave that on if you like, I have not racked up 17,000+ hours to be killed in the Ardmore Training Area for want of a landing light, if it's good enough for the airlines to have it on under 10,000', it's good enough for us!"... he is a 737 captain with AirNZ

Given the poor eyesight/lookout that seems prevalent at Ardmore, I am inclined to agree with him!

Cheers guys!

There is a good article on lights in the latest vector mag

Although on some planes you can't have beacon/strobes on at the same time, it's one or the other ( Dash 8s and Jetstream 41s are a couple)