Anti-collision lights during daytime.

[Clark1961]

You know you're out late when the flight service guy comes back to give you your clearance on the phone and says, "Your not a Lifeguard or have any special callsign, just a plain November?".

Now DHS will be watching you. They're already lasing your instructor out in Nebraska! They know that all of us flying around on whim are part of an evil conspiracy!

 

[Cmercado]

Update: this little issue has become personal for me. My beacon is out.

Yes, my strobes still work. My mech, who was supposed to go up north this weekend, tried to tell me I was legal because I have strobes. He urged me to just fly it until he can get to it. I told him what I learned on this thread.

Knowing I have a checkride coming up, my mech promptly got serious. He actually obtained a new bulb Friday and tried it. Still didn't work.

One of the terminals on the old bulb was fried. So he reasoned that the P/S had either generated a surge and taken out the bulb, or the bulb somehow drew enough current from the P/S and fried both itself and the P/S.

So he got a new power supply from an Authorized Cessna dealer. Was told that the P/N in the parts manual had been superseded, so they gave him what they claimed was the new P/S. This morning he went to my hangar and found that the new P/S is incompatible.

Authorized Cessna dealer is closed on weekends.

If I'm reading Murphy correctly, I'm down until this mess is straightened out. It smells wrong to me that a Cessna shop would sell my mech the wrong part. I'm beginning to think I might have to ferry the plane to somewhere that knows what they're doing.

Seeing my dreams of doing the checkride this month evaporating and hoping I'm wrong about something here. Sigh.

I was having all kind of issues with my beacon. Like you, it was a pain in the behind finding the right parts. Make your life easy..... Switch to a LED...

 

[david0tey]

This is somewhat unrelated but I didn't feel the need to start a new thread. On the Diamond da-20, which only has strobes and no beacon, should the strobes be turned on prior to engine start or prior to takeoff? I know the beacon is usually turned on prior to engine start but strobes prior to takeoff. But since there is no beacon, I don't know.

 

[denverpilot]

Now DHS will be watching you. They're already lasing your instructor out in Nebraska! They know that all of us flying around on whim are part of an evil conspiracy!

ROFL!

 

[azure]

I was having all kind of issues with my beacon. Like you, it was a pain in the behind finding the right parts. Make your life easy..... Switch to a LED...

Believe me, if it wasn't for the clock ticking away, I would do that in a heartbeat. Unfortunately I need a quick solution for now, even if it costs a few bucks...

 

[azure]

This is somewhat unrelated but I didn't feel the need to start a new thread. On the Diamond da-20, which only has strobes and no beacon, should the strobes be turned on prior to engine start or prior to takeoff? I know the beacon is usually turned on prior to engine start but strobes prior to takeoff. But since there is no beacon, I don't know.

I'd turn them on before engine start. 91.209 (even pre-Murphy) requires anti-collision lights to be on while the airplane is being operated, which certainly includes during taxi operations. Not sure if before start is required strictly speaking, but I think it's a good idea to have some visual warning to bystanders that the power is on in the plane and the engine could start at any moment.

 

[Mike I]

This is somewhat unrelated but I didn't feel the need to start a new thread. On the Diamond da-20, which only has strobes and no beacon, should the strobes be turned on prior to engine start or prior to takeoff? I know the beacon is usually turned on prior to engine start but strobes prior to takeoff. But since there is no beacon, I don't know.

I was trained to do that on the Cirrus SR-20, which also lacks the beacon. Strobes on before start. I've also seen that on numerous Cirrus checklists. I'd imagine it's also good procedure in the DA-20.

 

[DouglasBader]

It's fairly standard to light up like a christmas tree when crossing a runway. Someone mentioned earlier that it was merely naive new copilots who do that...them and many experienced professionals. For us, company policy.

Landing and taxi lights off when facing a marshaller or when in the vicinity of other aircraft. Nobody likes to marshall an aircraft and be blinded as a reward.

Taxi lights on before entering the runway, landing lights on with the takeoff clearance, and stay on below 18,000'. Same for descent. This isn't practical in all aircraft, especially those that use extendable landing lights with speed restrictions.

Strobes off in the vicinity of other aircraft, except when taking off or crossing an active runway.

Beacon on before engine start and after engine shutdown. Some prefer to leave the beacon on when the aircraft is parked. I prefer to shut it off per the checklist and to turn it on before engine start.

Presently in the tanker we have alternating landing lights with a pulse system that flash on and off and help make the aircraft more visible. It works well, especially smoke or with reduced visibility. I use strobes day and night.

In a world of see and avoid, anything that can help to make one more visible is a plus.