PILOT

by David Gagliardi

“‘Professionalism’ is commonly understood as an individual’s adherence to a set of standards, code of conduct or collection of qualities that characterize accepted practice within a particular area of activity.” -Universities UK et al. 2004

Professional pilots embody the attributes in the definition above. Being a professional pilot has nothing to do with what license you hold it is ultimately about the attitude with which you approach flying. This article is the second in a series that will examine aspects of piloting light aircraft to a professional standard.

Today’s topic is the use of aircraft lighting.

There are few actual regulations with respect to the use of aircraft lighting and they mostly concern night flying. Still lights are commonly used on flights conducted during the day. The decisions on what lights to use and when, seem to vary significantly and therefore I believe that it is useful to discuss best practices.

I personally follow what are the near universal commercial operators standard operating procedures. They are as follows:

1) Nav lights on when electrical power applied to aircraft (i.e. master turned on)

2) Red tail beacon light on prior to engine start (this is an indication to persons near the airplane that engine start is imminent)

3) Taxi light on when airplane is moving or about to start moving and off when it is stopped (i.e. the taxi light is a movement intentions indicator to persons near the airplane and other taxing airplanes)

4) White wing tip strobe lights on when entering the active runway (This will make the airplane more visible to airplanes on final especially at night. It is also a good practice to turn on the strobe lights if the taxi route has you taxing down a runway)

5) Landing light on when cleared for takeoff (This serves as a secondary acknowledgement of the takeoff clearance for ATC)

6) Both landing and taxi light on when in low level airspace, which means all the time in a C 172 (There is considerable research that shows that having all lights on increases the conspicuity of an aircraft and therefore reduces the risk of a mid air collision).

7) The order of the light use is reversed for landing

Some general considerations for use of lighting:

• Testing all the lights as part of the walk around is a good practice, however you want to be efficient so as not to leave all the lights on for an extended period as this could drain the battery and impact starting the engine. The easiest way to check the lights is to make it an independent check. That is turn on the master and all lights and do a brisk 360 degree walk around checking everything is working and then turn off the master and all the light switches. The pitot heat check, if required, can also be done at the same time.

• Understanding the protocol for the use of the taxi light can be helpful in maintaining situational awareness on the ground. If you see a commercial aircraft sitting and not moving with the taxi light off (note large aircraft typically have the taxi light mounted on the nose landing gear leg), then you can assume it will not move. If it switches the light on, then it will start moving and you should plan to taxi in way that will not impede it and avoid the prop/jet blast.

• Knowing the SOP of landing lights on = takeoff clearance once saved me from a runway incursion. I was taxing on Echo towards 09 and about to cross 03 when the Dash 8 holding at the button of 03 turned on his landing lights. I immediately stopped short of the 03 hold line on Echo 2 seconds before ground controller yelled at me to stop. As it turned out there was a miscommunication in a good example of how taxi situational awareness can increase safety for everyone.

• It used to be that taxi and landing lights used incandescent bulbs. These drew a lot of power and often had a life of less than 50 hours. Because of this the use of taxi and landing lights in light aircraft in the air during the day was often discouraged. Now all VFC airplanes have LED lights which draw 80 % less power and have effectively unlimited life (10,000 hrs+) so there is no penalty to keeping them on all the time when airborne.

• When operating on the ground at night pilots should take care not to blind persons on the ground or pilots of other aircraft. White strobe lights should never be used while taxing on a taxiway and especially not when stopped in a run-up bay. Similarly, pilots should consider turning off their taxi light if they are on a brightly lit ramp.

• Interior lighting at night should always be managed to maximize the pilot’s night vision. I find that initially I will set the instrument panel lights a bit too bright but as my eyes become night adapted, I can turn them down, thus maximizing my night vision.

• Pilots need 2 portable lights. One fairly powerful to do the walk around and another smaller and ideally red filtered light to use in the cockpit. There seems to always be parts of the inside of the airplane that will not be illuminated but which you need to see. This is also your emergency light, so it must be readily accessible by feel. Some pilots like to use a small head lamp which is handy because you do not need to hold it, but this is a matter of personal preference.

Understanding and using aircraft lighting in a predicable way increases flight safety and is, in my opinion, another mark of a professional pilot.