red beacon or strobe on a busy night ramp

[alcladrv]

I've long considered some some type of red beacon or strobe to use on my -7A on a night ramp so I won't blind and annoy other pilots with my wingtip and tail strobes. Has anyone installed one on the top of the fin or aft fuselage?

Of course, inflight I'd use the wingtip and tail strobes, and turnoff the topside beacon or strobe. Thoughts or insights?

[avee8tor13]

Not to be smart but seems to me you really want to be seen at night in a crowded environment.

[alcladrv]

OK, I took the word crowded out. I was looking for legitimate responses.

[Garage Guy]

Is there anything regulatory that says you need to have your strobes on? I thought there was, but I can't find anything. AC 91-73A says (after saying "adherence to the guidelines in this AC are voluntary"):

(2) Taxiing. Prior to commencing taxi, turn on navigation, position, anti-collision,
and logo lights, if available. To signal intent to other pilots, consider turning on the taxi light
when the aircraft is moving or intending to move on the ground, and turning it off when stopped,
yielding, or as a consideration to other pilots or ground personnel. Strobe lights should not be
illuminated during taxi if they will adversely affect the vision of other pilots or ground personnel.

I read that to say that if your anti-collision lights are strobe lights, you should turn them off if they are going to bother other folks. And, so, just use your nav lights in the runup area at night. I don't see the real need for a separate red beacon in that situation.

--Paul

[JHines]

I've always liked the red rotating beacon as an "always on" warning to get other folks' attention without blinding them. Also if you leave it switched on it is a good reminder not to leave the master on.

I'm a long ways off from that point, but I'll probably use something like this LED version of the "rotating red beacon" on top of the VS:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...dLedBeacon.php

[mburch]

When taxiing at night, I always plan to leave my strobes turned off until I take the runway so I don't blind other pilots or line guys. I have a small Whelen strobe head with a red lens (looks like this) that I'm hoping to put somewhere on my airplane, to serve the same purpose as a red flashing beacon but in a more streamlined way. I have a separate, low-energy strobe power supply from an ultralight that will flash the red light less brightly than my actual wingtip/tail strobes.

Putting the red strobe on top of the fin seems like it would be troublesome, since it would shine directly onto the cockpit and wings - distracting. For a while I was looking at belly locations, but then I started thinking about putting it on top of the aft fuselage, between F-708 and F-709. From what I've been able to measure, that location would not shine into the cockpit, and the fuselage would block most of the light from hitting the wings. I might get a little light on the wingtips and prop, but I could make a little artistically-shaped light baffle for it. To a person standing on the ramp or walking around the airplane, the aft fuselage light location is visible from all angles except for when standing directly in front of the propeller... and hopefully if that's where they're standing, I will see them through the windshield!

Of course I might leave it in the box after all, but it's fun to think about this stuff. That's probably why I'm still building and not flying. Oh well.

mcb

[dmaib]

I installed this on the top of the fuselage and it works great. Let's everybody on the ramp know the engine is about to be started, or is running. No bothersome strobes until I take the runway.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...dLedBeacon.php

[RV8iator]

I am pleased so many responses are advocating leaving the strobes OFF until you take the active for departure and turning them OFF upon clearing the active. The absolutely destroy night vision outside of YOUR cockpit. Beacons and nav light, absolutely, but strobes should be on everyones before takeoff and after landing checklist.

[AlexPeterson]

I have found that I prefer to turn the strobes off (at night) when within about 200 feet of landing. They really blast out a lot of light (Whelen Comet). I also only turn them on during the day just prior to takeoff.

[Huck]

I fly for Fedex - night time is just about all we do.

Navs on when there's power on the plane. Beacon on when starting engines.

Strobes come on when taking position for takeoff. I also use them when crossing an active runway.

If someone is holding short behind you when you are in position for T/O, sometimes folks will hold off on the strobes until actually rolling. Depends on whether you think there's any risk of someone landing on you.

And Landing light is last - it comes on when you are actually rolling down the runway. Otherwise it freaks out those crossing while you're holding.....