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Light legality

tracy

Well Known Member
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The airnav adsb tail beacon does not have a strobe on it, just a solid light. The stock vaf light has both solid and strobe. If the wing tip nav and strobes are not visible from the rear, does the tailbeacon make aircraft illegal?
 
Yes! The anti-collision (strobe) lights must be visible for 360° for night-time operations. Nothing is required for Daytime.
 
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Then you mean yes, the plane is illegal. What about planes with no strobe system? Could I disconnect wing tip strobes and be legal?
 
What would be the easiest fix for this? Maybe a reflector off the wing tip strobe?
 
Your Op Limits most likely say you must follow FAR 91.205 for night or IFR operations. 91.205 says you must have ‘approved’ position and anti-collision lights for night operations (not for day-ifr though). Elsewhere the fars direct you to run anticollision lights all the time, if you have them (except for safety). Most seem to define ‘approved’ as meeting the performance specs found in the fars. That’s where you will find the angular coverage as well as minimum brightness in various directions. In principle the owner/operator should check this, although most rely on a statement from the manufacturer that the lights are TSO’d or meet the TSO performance specs. I doubt that a mirror will provide the needed coverage and/or brightness.
 
We have seen at least 3 airplanes this year come through our shop with the uavionix sky beacon installed in the tail position. I had to remind each owner that they were no longer night legal, at a minimum. All of the aircraft had the recessed wing tip strobe/nav lights. If you have an older RV with the external nav/strobes, then you can use the sky beacon. The gotcha is that those with the external lights do not usually have the fiberglassed rudder tip witht eh nav/strobe position holder on it it.

Vic
 
I guess if I get caught out at night, I’ll just have to flip my adsb switch on..off..on..off..on..off
 
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