Strobe Lights

[pilot87 12]

Hi Bryan,

Just had a query regarding strobe lights in the after-landing clean up phase.

I'm not sure what it's like in other countries, but in Australia 737's and A320's are routinely used to operate to a number of airports that require backtracking the runway after landing. Currently the FO turns the strobe lights off as part of their after landing flow. Is there a way to prevent them from doing that? If not, is it possible to have added at some point in the future? It's by no means a show stopper/urgent and I simply turn them back on myself, but would be a "nice to have" feature. Perhaps an option as part of the APP brief data? (I do know you're super busy at the moment!)

I noticed on a flight today that when the NGX is in "Lights and Doors" mode (SOP 1) it wasn't registering my request for "select strobes on" either. Perhaps I'm not doing something correctly?

 

Cheers,

[byork 2,259]

Hi Haydn,

Yeah, it's good practice to turn on the strobes when crossing runways.

If you want the FO to turn on the strobes in that case, just issue a voice command for the strobes per the manual.

Some of the commands are tied to conditions... they'll only work during certain flight phases.

This is to prevent unwanted commands if the system detects something you don't mean to say (ie., gear up on the ground).

That could have been the case with your strobes, assuming  you were using the phrase from the manual.

If it's the green bar, you know your phrase was at least detected by the system.

Best,

[pilot87 12]

Thanks Bryan - I don't think it was actually detecting my voice so I'll have to have a look into it. But handy to know regarding the conditional requirements.

How about preventing the FO from switching them off in the after landing scan-action-flow in the case of a runway backtrack after landing?

Using Ballina-Byron Gateway (YBNA) as an example (located on the far North coast of New South Wales, Australia). The airport is regularly visited by both 737's and A320's. Due to the location of the terminal and the landing distance required (LDR) both types will roll to the end of the runway, before backtracking to taxiway Bravo (preferred exit) or Alpha. In this case you would want to begin cleaning up the aircraft after landing but not turn the strobes off until clear of the runway.

Currently all the SOP's for the A320 and NGX have the FO turning off the strobe lights in the after landing scan-action-flow. Whilst this is appropriate at most major airports, it wouldn't be in an airport such as the above.There would also be a preference to commence cleaning up the aircraft prior to exit (i.e. not backtracking the entire runway with flaps at full and spoilers deployed) and starting the APU during the backtrack as the alternative would be sitting on the bay for 3 mins waiting for the APU to come online. 

Departure is obviously not an issue as you can simply state "Set strobes on" (as per the manual) prior to entering the runway. 

Incidentally the above is not an issue with the Q400 as the Captain controls all the lights.

Princess Juliana, St. Maarten (TNCM) is another that springs to mind where there is no taxiway at the end of the runway requiring heavy jets to backtrack to the airport terminal apron.

As I said before, it's certainly not a show-stopper but I thought it was worth mentioning. I thought perhaps an option in the approach briefing section to leave strobes on after landing?

 

Cheers,

[byork 2,259]

In probably 90 percent of all cases the plane is not going to require a back track.  The FS2Crew FO is smart, but is still not as smart a human with actual eyes 🙂

When he shuts off the strobes during his after landing flow, just ask him to turn them back on.

Cheers,

[pilot87 12]

13 hours ago, byork said:

When he shuts off the strobes during his after landing flow, just ask him to turn them back on

And this is what I normally do, unless they're not listening which is the case I had yesterday - I will need to investigate further.

 

13 hours ago, byork said:

In probably 90 percent of all cases the plane is not going to require a back track.

Completely understand. As I said it's in no way a big ticket item, but just thought it was worth a mention for any future updates for both aircraft types.

 

Cheers,

[byork 2,259]

You could also delay the after landing flow until you vacate the runway.

 

[pilot87 12]

Absolutely that's an option. In reality though, leaving flaps out for longer than necessary exposes them to stone damage (especially at regional airports). Doing that would also delay the start of the APU. Most regional airports in Australia don't have ground power, so the APU is the only option. Airline economics are built on speedy turn-around's so delaying the shut down for the APU spool up would not be desirable. 

Much to the frustration of most working pilots in Australia, we do things a little differently down here (including limited taxiways). A lot of regional airports too, will only strengthen the taxiways directly in front of the terminal meaning even though a taxiway may be available at the end of the runway, it's quite often weight limited to <5700kg (12,500lbs) MTOW. The only airports in Australia owned by the Federal Government are military, and the rest are either in the hands of local councils or private ownership. This generally restricts the infrastructure works to top priority or legislated items. 90% no backtrack may be accurate for the rest of the world but probably not in Australia. A quick look through my charts reveals that the capital cities are the only airports that don't require a backtrack. Even Canberra (YSCB) airport requires a backtrack for anything bigger than a 737. If you include a requirement to backtrack for departure I would say that figure would fall to as low as 50% (possibly lower) of cases where backtrack is not required. 

I know in the world of simulation it's a bit of a mute point as there's no stones, no repercussions for taking a taxiway not rated for the aircraft type and AI traffic doesn't react to strobe lights anyway so the fact of turning them on is in some cases just "eye-candy".

I guess the question is always going to be how far do you want to take the realism whilst keeping the perspective that it's only a simulation on a desktop. 

[byork 2,259]

Maybe in P3D V5 they'll model stones on the runway 🙂

I'd prefer slopped runways though 🙂

 

[pilot87 12]

Haha as long as they model the engineers to come and fix it as well! Sloping runways would certainly be interesting.

In any case, if you happen to do an update at some point it would be something I'd like to put in a request for. If not, then no big deal 🙂

Thanks Bryan.