A Question for pilots/copilots/real aviation experts

[Alberto Zanot 53]

Hello folks!

I was wondering, in a real airliner, like a 737 or 757,the landing lights can be switched on only with engines running?

And what about taxi lights?

 

Thanks!

[KevinAu 441]

They don't require an engine running per se. What items like that do require is normal electrical power. Which would only be available if a generator was running or external power connected. Which, for the generators, would require either an engine or the apu to be running.

[Don t moderate me this way 882]

Cool topic.

 

What about beacon lights? On certain Very Light Jets, for example?

(Hint: Some of those VLJs don't even have a beacon light switch in the cockpit.)

[scottb613 1,188]

Hi Folks,

 

Yeah - most pilots want the beacon light on before engine start - to warn anyone in the area...

 

Regards,

Scott

[rtodepart 761]

Cool topic.

 

What about beacon lights? On certain Very Light Jets, for example?

(Hint: Some of those VLJs don't even have a beacon light switch in the cockpit.)

for the most part without getting into details on a bigger bird like a 73 or 75 per say i get the beacons on seconds if not minutes after im ready to call and give ground the ok to push me out the gate but in general you want to alert any ground crew your about to get the plane/engine in motion weather GA or Airliner ....

[Don t moderate me this way 882]

Some VLJs activate the beacon light automatically when the (first) engine is being started. That's why no beacon light switch is required for the pilot(s). Probably as close as you can get towards a "requirement" to start the engine(s) in order to have certain aircraft lights switched on.

[Airline2Sim 489]

The beacon would be switched on before engine start and would stay on until the engines have been shut down. Indeed on most aircraft you'd check that the N1 fan was at zero before turning off the light. This is pretty universal amongst airlines.

 

The taxi lights are turned on when moving and an unwritten rule is to turn it off when briefly stopped, i.e. to signify to another aircraft that you're giving way to them. It gives some comfort to the other pilot that you've seen them and are not intending to move again until he has gone past. Runway turn off lights are usually used once out of the lighted ramp area to help guide you to the runway in darker areas of the airport. Some airlines do not permit their use in the day.

 

Landing lights are turned on when lining up on the runway and traditionally were turned off at 10,000 feet. Some turn them off straightaway now to save fuel once the after takeoff checklist has been done.

 

Interestingly on the classic 737, the outboard landing lights drop down into the airflow and create a lot of drag. Consequently some airlines only use the inboard landing lights for takeoff.

[Alberto Zanot 53]

wow thank you all about all these infos!!!

bytheway, i was wondering because i am developing an addon aircraft for P3D.

P3D, like FSX, got a limitation in the [lights] section, of a maximum of 0 to18 entries.

That sucks and i really dont understand why in ages of development this has not been fixed.

The work around is to add the light effects in the [smoke] section and add a visibility rule in the model file itself.

It work very good, but everything written in the [smoke] section is activated only with engines running.

 

So basically, if the taxi lights and the landing light can be visible only with engines running, is not a real bad thing, right?

Anyway the pilot can switch on taxi lights only after  exiting the taxi area, and switch on the landing one lining up, which means that the engines are running for sure...

 

If you play with an aircraft with this limitation, would you be irritated?

What do you think?

[KevinAu 441]

How is 18 line items not enough for all the lights that a pilot would be concerned with?

[Alberto Zanot 53]

I did some cool special light effects that require a lot of light slots. Nav, beacon, strobe, recog, taxi, landing, wing, logo... With radial diffuse illumination, require more and more slots

[KevinAu 441]

Do you have an apu? If not, maybe move the special effects into the smoke section instead and leave the actual light section for the actual lights.

[Alberto Zanot 53]

nope :/

[FormerSF3 15]

You are thinking of a large turboprop where the lights are either 28V (battery 24V) or wired to the propeller generator.