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Senior Member
Lighting Definitions
I am somewhat confused about aircraft lighting (not landing or taxi lights). I see references to 4 kinds of lights:
- Nav lights
- Position lights
- Recognition lights
- Strobe lights
I think I know what a strobe light is, but I am not sure what the other 3 are. I suspect some are different names for the same thing.
Jim
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Senior Member
Re: Lighting Definitions
Position light(s) = White tail light, may be on tail or on wing tips shinning to the rear.
Navigation Lights = Red port and Green starboard
Strobe = All around flashing light in either Red or White
Recognition Lights = Applies to several types of lights. May be any white light shining froward as landing lights or a broader pattern, Alternating or pulsing as wig wag lighting. The term is sometimes applied to Logo lights embedded in the horizontal stab and shining on the vertical stab/rudder.
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Senior Member
Re: Lighting Definitions
Jim,
Nav lights, Green right wing tip forward facing , Red left wing tip forward facing and White rearward facing lights... also know as position lights
Recognition lights are also known as landing/taxi lights on fixed gear aircraft.
Strobes are the flashing (usually white tip) lights.
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Senior Member
Re: Lighting Definitions
Thanks, that clears it up completely.
Jim
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Senior Member
Re: Lighting Definitions
The two responses confused me a bit. I had always thought some of the definitions were duplicates - nav and position lights being the same. Soo I did a little googling and found that:
Nav lights are a shortening of Navitagion lights that are common in aviation and marine applications. They are the red green and white lights that will tell direction of flight or movement over water. They originated in Marine applications as all vessels are at the same altitutude and collisions can easily happen. For this reason right of way rules were established. When you see the red light, the other ship has the right of way, etc. I recall once on a racing sailboat mid pacific coming on a container ship in the middle of the night and we passed within a couple hundred yards of each other. With the lights it was easy to know direction of movement and who had the right of way, but you can believe me we ignored right of way rules and simply kept clear.
Position lights - from the FAA:
Sec. 31.65 — Position lights.
(a) If position lights are installed, there must be one steady aviation white position light and one flashing aviation red (or flashing aviation white) position light with an effective flash frequency of at least 40, but not more than 100, cycles per minute. (whatever this means)
Recognition lights - Couldn't fine an official definiton, but from some posts on forums, it would appear that they are the modified landing / taxi lights that flash for better visibility.
Strobe Lights - The anti collision light system (either strobe lights or rotating beacon) is required for all airplanes built after March 11, 1996 for all flight activities in poor visibility, and recommended in good visibility...
Lowell
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Senior Member
Re: Lighting Definitions
This is really a maze...
I gave the quick and common terminology in my first posting. John McBean posted the same answers. But in aviation, there are always exceptions.
Lowell referenced FAR 31.65 but that reg applies to manned balloons. Because balloons can drift backwards they have no red or green navigation lights. So that FAR is not much help for the Kitfox.
Lighting requirements for fixed wing aircraft often depends on when the aircraft was certified, and under what part of the FARs. Most of the older airplanes were certified under Regulation 4b which is no longer used.
Older aircraft are grandfathered for the lighting requirements. If the initial type certified was after August 1971; then, Part 23 applies to Normal, Utility, Acrobatic and Commuter type aircraft and Part 25 applies to Transport category aircraft.
One would think the lighting would be the same for all aircraft. Well, since when did the FAA make sense?
The term “Navigation Lights” is commonly used in cockpit labeling, owner's manuals, and FAA approved Pilot Operating Handbooks. A switch labeled “nav lights” typically turns on the red, green and white tip and tail lights. But the FAA does not use the terminology. In the regs they only refer to position lights and anti-collision lights.
So we dig a bit deeper and go to the aircraft lighting manufacturers.
Whelen uses only “position lights” while Areoled uses “navigation lights” when referring to red and green wing tip lights. Aveo covers the bases using “navigation/strobe/position” to describe their combination light. It’s not an official source, but we find “navigation lights” in common usage.
Lighting intensity is spelled out in detail for certified aircraft. For experimental aircraft to fly at night the airworthiness only says “required aircraft lighting”. But since there are no standards for Experimental Aircraft, determining what type and intensity of lighting meets the requirements is up to the builder.
The flashing lights on the outside of aircraft also go by several names; beacons, strobes, anticollision. Many cockpits of certified aircraft have lighting labeled “strobe”. That’s another term the FAA doesn’t use. They call it an anti-collision light.
Prior to 1971 we saw “rotating becons” on aircraft and they were always red. We also saw single all around stobe lights with red lenses take the place of rotating beacons. Some lighting systems use osculating beacons that do not flash on and off, but merely dim between the bright periods.
After 1971 part 23 airplanes can use white beacons or red. The anti-collision lights can be strobes or beacons. Part 25 aircraft use red anti-collision lights in addition to the white strobes, but the beacons may be a red colored strobe light.
It is a confusing maze of lights, lumens, beacons, strobes, and now…. LEDs.
Here's another kink in the regs. If you have an anti-collision light installed on your aircraft it must be operated in the daytime anytime you you taxi or fly. Exceptions to that, too.
So what’s the answer on these names?
If you are shopping for red, green, and white lights that are continuously on… do your search for “position lights” or “navigation lights”. You will find them under both terms.
If you are looking for flashing exterior lighting do your search for “anti-collision” , “strobe lights”, or “beacon light”
Now to really confuse you… if you decide to adapt marine lighting to your aircraft the suppliers might call the red and green lights “side lights”.
That should muddy the waters
John Pitkin
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Senior Member
Re: Lighting Definitions
Thanks John for a very complete answer.
I purchased a set of Whelan Microburst III wingtip lights for my Kitfox I am now building. They have the red & green lights, a steady white light showing only to the rear, and white strobe lights which can be turned on separetely. The lights are not certified and are only for experimental use.
It sounds like from what has been written on this thread I will be Ok to use them on my experimental at night if I have a full private pilot in the plane (I myself will only have a sport pilot cert). Is my thinking correct?
Jim
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