Hey guys!
I just have a quick question, if you don’t mind.
When flying at night, do you turn your landing lights off when above 10,000 feet, or do you turn them off, like normal? I am aware that during the day, you can turn them off above 10,000 feet, but I don’t know if it is the same at night.
All help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
I believe the rule is to have them off above 10,000, no matter the time of day.
If not, I’ve been doing something wrong…
I am not sure as well. I just turn em on when i am on final.
You are supposed to have them on below 10,000 feet, either when landing or taking off.
My question is just about using them at night.
10,000ft rule should apply as you have other nav lights for a reason…
Awesome, thank you!
If you want to learn more about it, then this tutorial will help you out.
https://community.infiniteflight.com/t/landing-lights-strobes/75143
FAA do encourage pilots to turn on landing lights under 10,000 feet, day or night. Not only for anti-collision purposes, but also to avoid birds.
Landing lights could also generate a huge amount of heat and consume power, so there is really no need to keep them on the entire flight.
Although I heard pilots were instruct to turn it on when changing flight levels.
Go outside on a clear night, and look up until you find a plane. You’ll be able to see all the lights it’s using. At night, planes are required to use position/navigation lights, as well as anti-collision lights (some combination of strobes or beacons). On most planes you see at night, these are the lights they are using. You’ll see a steady white light from the position/nav lights, and flashes from the strobes and beacons. These are all required under FAR 91.209.
Landing lights aren’t required at all by regulations, they are only recommended, as stated above, in the AIM, under part 4-3-23.
Here’s an article I found which sums it up well:
Thank you so much! This is the best answer I’ve received so far. Thank you.
So, does this mean that if I purely forget to turn them on during takeoff, or even landing (everyone does every now and then, lol), I’m not actually disobeying a serious regulation, and I’m fine?
Legally, you’re doing nothing wrong.
Practically, any other pilot would be well within their rights to encourage you to use your landing lights next time in the interest of safety.
I just noticed something in that video… The beacons and strobes were illuminating the ground!? Was this removed in global or something? Why would they remove that feature lol
I know why dont i have it as well
They were removed a long time ago (might have been with global).
I would assume that just like the old map the programming behind it/the feature itself would have limited the device’s performance too strongly.
Above 10.000 ft. Beacons and strobe lights.
Under 10.000 ft. Beacons, strobe, landing lights
When exit the runway: Beacons, taxi lights.
When you turn of the landing lights is, as others have said, not defined by regulations. Instead it is dictated by an airline’s SOP in real life. For example at low cost airlines the rule is often that generally landing lights are turned off during the after take off flow (Around the same time as flaps up), unless they are needed for visibility, in which case they can be kept on till 10000ft, however have to be retracted above 250knts. Generally for visibility and to reduce workload, landing lights are kept on below 10000ft on arrival.
You guys turn on your landing light below 10000? I open mine at 3000 when my landing gear goes down…
Always wondered about that too, hope they can bring it back
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