More about Using Beacon Light Correctly

[Ray_L]

I happened to read a lot of comments about using beacon lights these days and I found out many players still have some misunderstanding with the Beacon. I will try to clarify it more.

All in all, as long as your aircraft is about to move, or is moving, beacon must be turned on.

A common misunderstanding is “Beacon is only required to be turned on when engines are about to run or running”. This is Not the whole picture. Actually, Beacon has to be turned on even your aircraft is being tugged to move without engine running.

IRL, this happens a lot. Aircrafts need to be tugged to change gates or to the maintenance area from time to time, and Beacon has to be on during the whole tugging process.

And of course, if an aircraft is not about to move, but just engine testing at holding position, Beacon must be on as well.

Besides, Beacon has other uses. IRL, some pilots turn the beacon on to inform the ground crew that pilots are about to requesting the ATC for push and start and ground crew may now connect the tug and get prepared to push. They do this because the ground crew don’t always stand beside the front landing gear and monitor the “ground to cockpit” microphone. I learned this from a B787 captain.

[rowan]

Beacon lights aren’t only for movement. It should be turned on before u start the engines and turned off after the engines are turned off, and it should always be on in between this. they’re basically position lights so yes they’ll be turned on during push or when the aircraft is being tugged

[Ray_L]

I added another paragraph to that, now it should be posted again.

[Advanced]

I believe beacon lights are used to alert the ground crew that the aircraft is active

[Waxyscorpion308]

yeah, it’s very similar to like, say, that flashing light on top of a school bus. Flashing to tell you, “hey, we’re in service right now, be careful!”

[Aviation_Alex]

It is a warning to ground crew and a positioning light.