Yeah, here in Tallinn I have also seen our Estonian Air's and Finnairs taking off and landing with wing lights on, but thats not always.

Oh Randy - you just can't help yourself.Just when I thought you had calmed down and taken a less aggressive and more constructive demeanour you charge in here like a bull in a china shop and smash everything in sight.I guess it never occurred to you as you built up your head of sarcastic steam that the people asking questions about lights were striving for the very thing you claim to pride yourself in - realism. They asked a simple question and a reasonable discussion ensued. All it would take is a simple answer or an addition to one of the previous answers but instead you pounced like a mangy cat on an unsuspecting mouse on a descriptive error and ridiculed the person unmercilessly. All you had to do, or suggest others do, was a simple GOOGLE search on

* from memory - should be *mostly* correct *Logo (tail light) - mandatory at dusk/night/dawn on the ground and when below 10,000 (in the US). The tail logo is used to identify the airliner. On some aircraft the logo lights not only light up the vertical stabilizer (tail), but also illuminate the fuselage so the airliner's name can be seen.Landing - mandatory on below 10,000 (in the US). Turn on when starting t/o roll, turn off before turning towards the runway exit ramp. Tells tower that you are starting your t/o roll at night (strobes indicate you are on the runway). Note, when landing gear is deployed, additional landing lights deploy on most a/c.Taxi - mandatory at dusk/dawn/night on the ground.Nav - wing tips (green/red) - tail (white) - mandatory on all the time, even at the gate when the a/c is powered. Indicates a/c is powered up. The green/red colors indicate to other a/c your relative position and heading (this is the same as for water going surface ships by the way, and except that the white color indicates a powered vessel). Nav lights get turned on the first thing after powering up the electric bus.Beacon - flashing red top/bottom along centerline - mandatory on while engines are on. On the ground, also informs ground crew that engines are being turned on. Usually turned on during pushback, before engine start. Turned off at the gate/parking after parking brakes applied, before engine shutdown.Strobes - white flashers - mandatory on when a/c is in flight, or on an active runway. Turn on when entering an active runway, turn off when departing an active runway. Strobes tells tower and other a/c that you are on a runway. The flashers indicate to other a/c in the area your relative position as they can be seen farther than your navigation lights. So for example, an aircraft holding short of a runway will not have strobes on, which tells the pilot about to land that the other plane is clear of the runway.Wing lights - used to inspect wings, control surfaces and in particular, look for ice buildup.Formation lights - military a/c only, used as reference markers for tight formation flying at night, and during military operations, visible by night equipment when all other lights are turned off.Cabin lights - airline dependent (I think). May also be airport dependent. Some airlines keep the lights on but have all window shades pulled down. Not sure why that is.

Here is what the FARs say about it:Sec. 91.209 - Aircraft lights.No person may: (a) During the period from sunset to sunrise (or, in Alaska, during the period a prominent unlighted object cannot be seen from a distance of 3 statute miles or the sun is more than 6 degrees below the horizon) -- (1) Operate an aircraft unless it has lighted position lights; (2) Park or move an aircraft in, or in dangerous proximity to, a night flight operations area of an airport unless the aircraft -- (i) Is clearly illuminated; (ii) Has lighted position lights; or (iii) is in an area that is marked by obstruction lights; (3) Anchor an aircraft unless the aircraft -- (i) Has lighted anchor lights; or (ii) Is in an area where anchor lights are not required on vessels; or (:( Operate an aircraft that is equipped with an anticollision light system, unless it has lighted anticollision lights. However, the anticollision lights need not be lighted when the pilot-in-command determines that, because of operating conditions, it would be in the interest of safety to turn the lights off. Best,Vin ScimonePMDGwww.precisionmanuals.comhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/devteam.jpg

Ok.. now everyone get out their calculators :-lolSec. 23.1401 (e)- Anticollision light system.(e) Light intensity. The minimum light intensities in any vertical plane, measured with the red filter (if used) and expressed in terms of "effective" intensities, must meet the requirements of paragraph (f) of this section. The following relation must be assumed: http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/85333.gifwhere: Ie=effective intensity (candles). I(t)=instantaneous intensity as a function of time. t2−t1=flash time interval (seconds).Normally, the maximum value of effective intensity is obtained when t2 and t1 are chosen so that the effective intensity is equal to the instantaneous intensity at t2 and t1. (f) Minimum effective intensities for anticollision lights. Each anticollision light effective intensity must equal or exceed the applicable values in the following table. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Effective Angle above or below the horizontal plane intensity (candles)------------------------------------------------------------------------0

"Turned off at the gate/parking after parking brakes applied, before engine shutdown."Not sure why you would switch off your beacons if your engines are still running/spooling down.... On larger jets, at least, idle and sub-idle thrust can still be a hazard... and you can still gag on the fumes as the engine is spooling down (if you happen to walk/drive behind the engines).I've also seen engines that have failed to shut down after the pilots have put their fuel levers to cutoff.Beacons off is usually a sign to ground staff to approach the aircraft... but we've even added a rule here in Sydney that the engineer must still give the thumbs up prior to allowing anyone to approach the aircraft (irrespective of beacons off).Cheers.Ian.

Beacon should not be turned off before engines N1's are below 10%.

hehe..I meant right, wrote wrong. Beacons on while engines are on = turn beacons off after engines are off (should I add and have stopped spinning?)...

Listen up Andy, I was not being sarcastic at all, I DO BELIEVE what they said concerning the lights being correct. I just suggested that people can see PROOF of this most simply. As for your personal BS towards me Andy, you need to keep yourself in check because you are the one who is attacking anyone here and I for one am TRIED of seeing your attacks against me and my posts. If PMDG have an issue with me they will deal with me directly and this also goes for crap like this from you.Best Wishes,[h4]Randy J. Smith[/h4][h3]P M D G's 747-400[/h3][h4]coming to a runway near you[/h4][/font color]Caution! Not a real pilot, but do play one on TV ;-)AMD 64 3200+ | ASUS KV8 DELUXE | GFORCE 5700 ULTRA @535/1000 | Maxtor 6Y080M0 SATA 80 GIG | 512 DDR 400 | Windows Xp Pro | Windows Xp Pro 64 |

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Hi,I wanted to say that I found this thread to be an interesting and informative read. I had been wondering about some aspects of the usage of lights for a while now but I had never bothered to search the net for an answer. I especially liked Etienne's pretty thorough explanation. Thank You Etienne. :)Cheers,Jimmy Richards

Yeah, lets make peace :) You are both smart and one knows one thing better, other knows something else.Actually the engines do not have to be completely stopped to allow approaching the plane and turning off the beacon. 10% N1 is completely fine. Have you ever seen how long the 737 fan can rotate after shutting off? I was kinda amazed when I saw first time.

Thanks for the clear and thorough answer, Georg.BR,Frank

Trust me, I wish no more "debates" of this sort on this forum (that is personal debates about people). The issue for the lights was really not an issue of "realism" as pertaining to what's modeled on the aircraft since the lights are on the aircraft. This was a question or dialog about "operation" of those lights already present and falls into the catorgory of opinions (I think this airlines does this or that etc.) which are best based upon evidence that we can provide if we wish to convince our readers. To be fair, I should have been a bit more clear in my post as I have not even looked at the wing lights in operation and so my suggestion that one could just verify this simply by looking on the web. I don't believe that I insulted anyone by my question or deserved to be personally attacked. I did recall one of the team's pilots talking about the operation and what they were used for but that's all I knew. I enjoy learning about the correct operation as the next guy...Best Wishes,[h4]Randy J. Smith[/h4][h3]P M D G's 747-400[/h3][h4]coming to a runway near you[/h4][/font color]Caution! Not a real pilot, but do play one on TV ;-)AMD 64 3200+ | ASUS KV8 DELUXE | GFORCE 5700 ULTRA @535/1000 | Maxtor 6Y080M0 SATA 80 GIG | 512 DDR 400 | Windows Xp Pro | Windows Xp Pro 64 |

To be honest, the operation and use of every singe light is quite clearly explained here for now. Very useful topic indeed.