Before start, beacon on
After start before taxi: taxi light on
Entering runway: strobes on
Cleared for takeoff: landing light on.
Oh this old chestnut. I fly with a significant number of freshly-minted CPLs who go through all sorts of light shenanigans. I tend to stop them in their tracks and ask “Why are you doing that?” In particular, the taxi and landing lights in the DA62 are exactly the same; “why are you switching between the two?”
So, with my logic and rationale for daytime:
Immediately prior to start – Beacon and/or position lights. If there’s no beacon, just the position lights. This serves as a warning to passes by that I’m about to suck/blow.
Taxi – Taxi or landing light. I’m moving or about to move. I leave this on at the hold.
Entering a runway – Strobes. Hey, I’m about to do something on this important piece of concrete. I may just be crossing.
I leave the taxi/landing light on for the duration of the flight (it’s LED so no real worries about bulb life). It aids conspicuity.
Night-time/IMC is a little different, predominately to minimise dazzle.
I flew with a chap the other month who was so involved in dancing around the light switches etc he failed to notice that ATC had cleared us to line-up when there was an aircraft on final.
To me, the nav lights of a Cessna are useless in daylight. Even some strobes are not that bright on a sunny day.
On the contrary, strobes (especially new zones) can blind somebody standing nearby on a dark apron at night. So I guess we have to adapt.
I agree it should not take us too much attention.
Alexis wrote:
Then, one year ago, I flew with a professional ATP instructor who told me that if I wanted to do it RIGHT, i should taxi with the strobes OFF, switch them ON at the holding position and not switch on the landing before I receive the takeoff clearance.
Since I suppose I’ve flown with this individual quite a lot, I have to add that when he taught me, he said that in the Cirrus there is no one correct way to do things (as it misses e.g. a beacon), but this was merely his proposition.
Landing light serves as a reminder for your clearance (also cleared to land – landing light goes ON). Seeing an aircraft with strobes at the holding point, to a commercial airline crew means that this guy may be about to enter the runway. So in the Cirrus I have decided that on larger airports, I turn strobes off after starting the engine and on only for crossing runways. On smaller airfields I do it according to the situation, i.e. I leave strobes on if I feel that it may help someone to spot me and usually also switch on the landing light when taxiing.
Another nice gesture to remember is to switch off the landing lights if you are being marshalled, so as not to blind them when they are directly facing your aircraft.
I couldn’t agree more, you have to consider the equipment/situation and adapt.
Landing lights: if led, can be left on to help conspicuity, if bulb better turn them off.
Strobes: Can easily be blinding if taxiing close to other aircraft, especially at night. So I use with caution, depends where you taxi. Typically off during taxi.
Need warn others when starting engine: is the red beacon sufficient? depends where you are parked.
Landing light serves as a reminder for your clearance (also cleared to land – landing light goes ON).
In most cases I would expect the landing light to go on long before you get your landing clearance (maybe with the exception of the US where you can be cleared as number three). I turn the landing lights when turning final at the very latest. The landing clearance can be given on very short final.
Seeing an aircraft with strobes at the holding point, to a commercial airline crew means that this guy may be about to enter the runway.
The practice of turning strobes on when entering a runway was introduced after an airliner landed on top of another which was holding on the runway without strobes, at dusk or night, at LAX.
It may have been this
LimaVictor wrote:
What I learned (recently : PPL in 2013 / IRSE in 2015) :
-Taxi with beacon, taxi light and landing light ON (no strobe)
-when reaching holding point : taxi and landing lights OFF
-before lining up : strobe + taxi light + landing light ON
-400 ft height : taxi and landing light OFF
-after landing : strobe OFF after vacated the runway
Far too much on/off/on/off activity and items on a checklist for my taste, and especially at a time when missing something on a checklist could be deadly.
I turn on Beacon before start, nav lights before taxi, and the rest (taxi/landing recog/wigwag (1 switch) and strobe) gets turned on on the runway just before mixture rich and full throttle on takeoff. And I then leave it all on until exiting the runway after landing. Being seen is my main reason for leaving everything on during flight. I just installed wing-tip LED landing/taxi lights on my C172 in addition to my already exisiting LED nose landing/taxi lights (all AeroLEDs) and cabled them up for wigwag alternating between wing-tip and nose. I’m told that the aircraft is MUCH more visible in flight as a result and easier to find when being pointed out as traffic by ATC. BTW, AeroLEDs are brilliant!
Vince
I have no lights to switch on. In bright day, I’ll see an aircraft before I see its strobes or beacon. Landing/taxi light I’ll spot much sooner.
In dim light, the strobes are eye-catching.
On the PA-28s I fly the beacon and strobes are on the same switch. It goes on right after master on, and off right before master off.
The landing/taxi light has been replaced by LEDs, so it can be on basically at all times from start of taxi until reaching the destination parking.
For the nav lights to come on I use the same rule as with car or boat: When you start to wonder if you should have them on, you should have them on.
To be honest I have not verified this order against the official POH, but even if it’s only the flying club’s custom checklist I agree with it, it’s hard enough to find an airplane in the sky during bright daytime with all lights on. On at least one occasion I saw a plane coming straight at me about 100ft above thanks to him running his landing light in broad daylight long before I saw the rest of the plane. I know the statistics is flawed, but with an early see the avoid was a non-event, so I’ll stick to it.
Before start – beacon on
Before taxi – taxi light on
At the hold – landing light on (stays on throughout the L.A. basin, but that’s a local specialty due to high volume of air traffic)
Entering rwy – strobes on (stay on for entire flight, off after landing upon exiting active rwy)
