Help me understand anti-collision lighting requirements

woodchucker

woodchucker

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woodchucker
a) Beacon inop Strobes good. Fly or not?
b) Strobes inop Beacon good. Fly or not?
c) Beacon inop No strobes. Fly or not?

Looking for a better reasoning/understanding in these scenarios.
My personal understanding is that if any installed anti-collision lighting (beacon/strobe) is inop then the plane is grounded. So, situation (c) is grounded for sure. But (a) or (b)?
 
Read the FAR and your airplane manual, comprehensive equipment list, kinds of equipment list, or MEL.
 
Beyond the FARS -

Some certificates airplanes have a Kinds Of Equipment List (KOEL) where the manufacturer dictates equipment that must be operational for certain types of flying. The KOEL creates another level of compliance. I have seen lists which said the strobes were an anti collision substitution and some that said you needed both. Check your POH.
 
What lights are required is determined by the date of the aircraft’s type certificate. Common sense says if you believe anti-collision lights work? More is better. Both of my own planes use wingtip and tail strobes plus a 360° beacon on the fin and also have flashing landing and taxi lights. If one stops working you aren’t grounded.

From CFR91.205(c)

(3) An approved aviation red or aviation white anticollision light system on all U.S.-registered civil aircraft. Anticollision light systems initially installed after August 11, 1971, on aircraft for which a type certificate was issued or applied for before August 11, 1971, must at least meet the anticollision light standards of part 23, 25, 27, or 29 of this chapter, as applicable, that were in effect on August 10, 1971, except that the color may be either aviation red or aviation white. In the event of failure of any light of the anticollision light system, operations with the aircraftmay be continued to a stop where repairs or replacement can be made.
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Add

91.209 Aircraft lights.
No person may:
(b) 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.

(The strobes and beacon are part of the system.)



§91.205 Powered civil aircraft with standard category U.S. airworthiness certificates: Instrument and equipment requirements.

(11) For small civil airplanes certificated after March 11, 1996, in accordance with part 23 of this chapter, an approved aviation red or aviation white anticollision light system. In the event of failure of any light of the anticollision light system, operation of the aircraft may continue to a location where repairs or replacement can be made.
 
Stewartb said:
What lights are required is determined by the date of the aircraft’s type certificate. Common sense says if you believe anti-collision lights work? More is better. Both of my own planes use wingtip and tail strobes plus a 360° beacon on the fin and also have flashing landing and taxi lights. If one stops working you aren’t grounded.

From CFR91.205(c)
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Read the reg, once you stop where the repair can be made you are done and 91.213 Inoperative Equipment and 91.209 Aircraft Lights come into play.

“In the event of failure of any light of the anticollision light system, operations with the aircraftmay be continued to a stop where repairs or replacement can be made.”
 
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New 172's (G1000) require the wingtip strobes. As was said, depends on the specific aircraft.
 
woodchucker said:
a) Beacon inop Strobes good. Fly or not?
b) Strobes inop Beacon good. Fly or not?
c) Beacon inop No strobes. Fly or not?

Looking for a better reasoning/understanding in these scenarios.
My personal understanding is that if any installed anti-collision lighting (beacon/strobe) is inop then the plane is grounded. So, situation (c) is grounded for sure. But (a) or (b)?
Click to expand...
According to a 2017 interpretation from the FAA's Office of the Chief Counsel, if an aircraft has both strobes and a beacon, they are all considered to be part of the same system and must all be operational. :(

https://www.faa.gov/about/office_or...ps/2017/Letts - 2017 Legal Interpretation.pdf
 

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  • Anticollision Light Out - Letts - (2017) Legal Interpretation.pdf
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In airplanes certificated after????? My 1975 airplane doesn’t require anything for day VFR. Night VFR is different. Read the regs as they apply to YOUR airplane.
 
Some newer bonanzas have something that looks like a beacon on the vertical stab but is officially a 'marker light'. In that configuration, the strobes become the only approved ACL. In the older configuration with a beacon, the strobes are a nice to have addition.
 
Stewartb said:
In airplanes certificated after????? My 1975 airplane doesn’t require anything for day VFR. Night VFR is different. Read the regs as they apply to YOUR airplane.
Click to expand...

I'm not an attorney, so the following is not authoritative:

Referring to the regulation excerpts quoted in post #8, it is true that 91.205(b)(11) says that aircraft certificated on or before March 11, 1996 are not required to have an anticollision light system for day VFR, but 91.209(b) appears to say that if the aircraft does have them, then they must be lighted. No mention of the certification date is made in that section, so it's not clear to me whether the exception in 91.205(b)(11) applies to 91.209(b).

I'm also not clear on whether the deactivation-and-placarding option in 91.213(d) can be used as an exception to the 91.209(b) requirement.
 
Another CFR that requires the use of non-required equipment. Leave it to government.

I’m a fan of lighting my airplanes in excess of required equipment so the reg has little influence on me. I’ve knocked a few wingtip strobes off and didn’t know until later yet I flew in and out of controlled airspace without comment. Once identified did I fix them? Yes, because I like being seen by other planes, not because of the regs.
 
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