Eeek! Pilot Error!

[Dougal 165]

Just passed 10,000ft, en route for VHHX from KORD. Turned off Landing lights, only to discover we FORGOT to switch on the strobe!!!What would be the R/W punishment for such a crime?

[Guest PPSFA]

It ain't a crime :-)

[Mace 1,902]

crime pays.:)In seriousness, I don't know what the regulations are on strobes. It may be different SOP for various airlines, or it may be govt/FAA type regulation to have strobes on or off. I always use them as soon as I start moving the aircraft, and turn them off shortly after takeoff. If night, I keep wingtip flashers on though--pretty sure that's reg.Seems like this was discussed (with comment from rw pilots) in the Hangar Chat forum some time ago, you might want to search.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

[Guest DreamFleet]

This should pretty much tell you what you need to know and is regulatory in nature:http://www.whelen.com/aviation/catalog/Ani...n%20Systems.pdfOtherwise, I would not lose any sleep over it!Regards,http://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...R_FORUM_LOU.jpg

[Guest TPN_Turnip]

Let me "splain" it to ya Lucy.I was flying a Beechcraft Sundowner from Pierce County ( THUNE ) airport up north to Seattle at night. ( This is real world BTW ) This is the most beautiful flight you can take. We followed HWY 167 north, then over the top of I-5, flew over Seattle, turned around and came back. While we were next to Boeing field heading south ( Valley departure ), we had to maintain 900 Ft AGL and fly a very small corridor over I-5. I switched on my strobes because of the heavy traffic taking off to the south at BFI. All of a sudden a twin came from my 3 o'clock position heading right towards me. He flew under me about 80 feet and departed to my left. SCARED THE POOP RIGHT OUTTA ME.MORAL: STROBES WORK. When in doubt, use them. they saved my bacon.TurnipSPECS:VISTA Home Basic 580 WATT Sunbeam PowerCrucial Ballistix 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAMASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6550MSI nVidia NX8800GT 512 PCI-E 2.0SB LIVE 24250 GB WD SATA HD 120 GB WD IDE HD[/url]

[Mike T 208]

There is no penalty. Many times we've turned off the strobes when flying through clouds and when landing in fog since the strobe lights will refract back into the cockpit and cabin.As a matter of fact I was watching a Southwest 737 flying into KMDW the other day with no strobes on.No big deal.HTH,Mike T.

[Guest PPSFA]

FAR 91.209.... in part....(:( 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.Back in my commercial days, we left strobes off while on the ground until taking the active cleared for takeoff. Now, if we were cleared to 'position and hold' I would have every light I own on, due to the number of runway incursions and potential collisions.We also turned them off in clouds as another post mentioned. As a rule I leave them on from takeoff til touchdown as I want to be seen by every plane out there, day or night.

[Guest DreamFleet]

I do the same; they go on before takeoff and off when back on the ground, though during day time it doesn't much matter for the latter.Actually, on the 210 I fly, the rotating tail beacon is always left on, and turns on with the Master. On the Dakota, where we have a strobe on the tail, it goes on after engine start, as you risk frying the power supply if having it on before engine start.The wing tip strobes go on before takeoff.As to the position lights (red, green, white), only at night for those. You can't see them during the day.As to the clouds, funny how many times I fave flown into clouds with the strobes on while wondering just what the fuss is about that! Maybe clouds at night? Nah, been there with that too! Whatever. ;)Landing lights are another issue, and while I like to fly with it on during the day those bulbs don't last long.Reminds me of when I was coming into to KCDW with the 210 at night on Valentines days, last month, on short final for RW22. "Hmmm... ok, but I could use a bit more light". I turned the taxi light on too (they are both next to each other on the nose of the 210). "Ah! that's better".Sure enough, when on the ground I found out the landing light wasn't working.When we had the plane to the shop last week I wanted to check the landing light out so as I taxied to the hangar with our mechanic watching, I turned on both the taxi and landing lights."The landing light is working", he said.What else is new?!! He still checked it out, and decided to replace the lug on the hot lead to the bulb.Between the 210 and the Dakota the landing light is the biggest pain. They never work when you need them to, then again, always be able to land without them.Regards,http://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...R_FORUM_LOU.jpg

[Guest PPSFA]

I'm 'old school', I hardly ever used the landing lights for landing, just for lighting up the plane so hopefully others could see us better, and always within 10 miles of the airport and below 10k.

[Guest]

I thought you were going to say that twin flashed a light at you saying "POLICE, FOLLOW ME" and booked you for a lights violation :)

[Dougal 165]

Thanks for the interesting feedback.