Flashlight for night flight poll
 

In a week or two I will do my first night flight! I am about to buy a flashlight and need so advice. It seems that Smith&Wesson galaxy 13 LED (10 white, 3 red) flashlight is one off the most popular choice ,however many pilots like 6 LED (3 white , 3 red) from the same manufacturer. Sometimes more light is not always better. What are your's opinions and recommendations? Thanks !

Flashlights
 

Two I like: Coast LED Lenser 689180, 5 wh 1Red, small and efficient. Slightly larger and less expensive the CoastG35. S&W Ok but seem bulky and overpriced? Also like one of the many headlamps with red and white LED's. Will watch with interest to find one even better! Thanks.

Rigel Systems Skylite
 

I use a Rigel Systems Skylite. It's not optimal but it works. Adjustable brightness for both white and red light. Silly thing uses a 9V battery though. Seems like a niche that is ripe for a new product - Dimming red/ white flashlight in a reasonable form factor.

I also use a Coast headlamp that has red and white light - but does not dim.

I keep two cheap Harbor Freight LED flashlights (one flat one with bout 24 LEDs and one round with 9 or so) for preflights and other stuff.

For in the cockpit i have a relatively inexpensive head mounted lamp with white, green, and red LEDs that I got at Spruce or Sporty's (neither of them carry the same model anymore but have comparable ones). The head lamp is great--it goes on under my headset and i can turn it on any time i need it. The panel lighting in my Warrior kind of stinks, so the head lamp get used quite a bit.

I think flashlights are very useful but i could never justify spending a whole lot on them. The best little light I have is a small mag-lite LED penlight that doubles as a standing lamp when the lens bezel is removed, but i don't use it in the plane. It is just to bright to be useful in the cockpit.

When flying at night I keep a headband type light that has both red and white LEDs.

Exactly. I have inexpensive ones from Home Depot.

None of the above
 

First off I don't fly much at night and have good aircraft lighting plus glass panel. So my thought is to go light and simple enough to have two, kept in the cockpit at all times for those rare times as needed. As the sun sets in flight I get them out and check the battery condition. Only one AA runs each for a long time, they put out more than enough white light. The red light saves night blindness is an old wife's tale.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00062...WTL&ref=plSrch
Now for camping, walking the dog, intruders, dark preflight inspections I go with surefire 6PX
If you want my 10 white 3 red Smith & Wesson, I will sell it half price free shipping but one red never has lite. Just try though to pull my cold fingers off my FNH!

When I was still actively flying in the AF Reserve (KC-10 boom operator), I was required to carry a flashlight for night flights. I have an older Inova X3 that fits perfectly into the shroud cutter pocket on the left leg of the standard USGI flight suit, but it was too bright to use in the jet at most times. I used it for post-flight walkarounds if we landed with a problem, or if we suspected a birdstrike and the whole crew was searching for the impact, more than anything else.

I also kept a red Inova Microlight clipped to the main zipper pull on my flight suit, and a white Microlight clipped to my dogtag chain. I used these far more than any other light - I've replaced at least 5 sets of batteries in them over 9 years of flying. I don't think I ever had a night flight when I didn't use the red one at least a few times... and for about a year, nearly all my flying was at night.

EDIT: I'm not affiliated with Inova, just a satisfied user.

My kids gave me a nice Black Diamond headlamp for Christmas a while back. I don't know the model name/number, but it's really nice. It has a high intensity white spot light, lower intensity white flood, and a single red LED. You can hold the button down to adjust the brightness of any of them, and the light pivots up and down so you can aim it where you want it. It costs a few bucks more than the cheap ones, but it sure is nice.

I've got a Mini Mag 2-AA with a Nite Ize white LED that I use a lot too, just not in the cockpit.

I have a 4-LED red light wired in to a dimmer on the panel.

For backup I have a Princeton Tech 3 white + 1 red headlamp. Two different intensities; Low intensity red is plenty enough for flying. Runs for about 36 hours on 3 x AAA lithium batteries.

I figure if my fixed light is dead it probably means the rest of my electrical system is dead, including my radios. So I also carry an iCom IC-A24 with a headset adaptor so I can declare PAN and turn on pilot-activated runway lights.


- mark