Flashlight for night flight poll

[rzbill]

+4 Headlamp. I retasked a Petzl I had in my camping gear.

[Ironflight]

I gave up on hand-held flashlights long ago - the headlamp goes where you're looking, and requires no hands. We are a household of cave explorers, and have almost no handhelds (other than buying a pack of cheapies from Home Depot for toolboxes once a year - where do they go?!?).

Prefer Petzl's with retracting cord headbands.

[N15JB]

For bright light situations I love the $10 Defiant LED headlamp from Home Depot or Lowes. Great battery life. I have 5-6 scattered around different locations. The 5 led model is plenty of light for most uses, but the 9 led model is the same cost.

[Canadian_JOY]

At this latitude we get lots of night ops. I have a Mini-Mag Lite (2AA) in the seat back pocket - it has been retrofitted with the NiteEyz LED head and pushbutton tail switch. I have a headlamp on the headset hanger - it features 1 small incandescent bulb that never gets used, plus white and red LED's - I rarely use anything other than the white LED. I also have a NiteEyz LED conversion for a Mini-Mag in my flight bag, plus another incandescent Mini-Mag in my flight bag. I also have two small clip-on LR-44-powered LED lights clipped to the headliner. Attached to my Bose X headset is a Browning Ballistic 2AA swivel-head red flashlight. In my flight bag is a small Xenon strobe light powered by 3 AA cells - I've left this on the ground and have seen it from the air at a distance in excess of two miles at night, so it's a pretty decent rescue beacon.

Why so many lights, you ask? I once flew at night and ended up with absolutely zero working lights. The aircraft interior lighting failed. The flashlight in the seat back pocket lasted about five minutes before it died. The flashlight in my flight bag came apart as I fumbled to remove it from the flight bag and I never did find its end cap. Not a good experience. When it comes to night flight, I believe in a belt, suspenders, another belt, and then some more suspenders. It's no fun when things are totally dark. Fishing around for your handheld radio in your flight bag, is a pain when you can't even see your flight bag. Today's LED lights are so cheap there's absolutely no reason not to have several of them as a layered system of defense against having to operate in total darkness.

[jpowell13]

Here's my perfect solution. The push button switch is in the bill. You can turn on 1, 2 or 3 lamps. The light is always pointed where you look and the batteries last a long time. Sorry, the hat was given to me and I don't know where it came from, but I had a similar hat made by Craftsman. John

[catmandu]

Two or three years ago stumbled on the Coast PX20 in the Aviation Lighting aisle at HD. Five white, one red, uses 3 AAA batteries. First used it around the auto shop to augment drop lights. Became invaluable, bought about five more, one of which hangs from the cabin heat pull knob in the cockpit. I move it to my wrist for night flights, works great, easily fits in your mouth when you need both hands.

Wait, what? Um, yeah. Need to get new batteries for the headlamp.

[Charles in SC]

My favorite is the old boy scout/military style that has the 90 degree head on it because it is so easy to clamp it between your legs when you need a spare hand and it is big enough so you can find it if you drop it in the floor. Plus they look cool. I do not know if they make these in LED style.

[woxofswa]

I never fly, day or night, work or play, without a Ray 0 Vac penlight in my shirt pocket. LED bulb. Single AAA battery.
The problem with preflight flashlights is that they are way too overbearing in the cockpit. Too much light can be as frustrating as too little. The little penlight is perfect for checking a document, finding something dropped on the floor, looking into your flight bag, etc. It is absolutely essential for the sim.
It is also great for land based RVing, boating/sailing, etc. I buy them on sale for 10 for $20 and have one stashed in every vehicle and every bag and tool box.
I've rested one on the temple of my glasses and its small enough to even pop in your mouth if you have to.

I've been flash blinded a time or two when a co-star pulls out their latest tactical taliwhacker 2000 in the cockpit. Forehead lights are great for the hangar, but in a Boeing the other reindeer will laugh and call you names if you sport one of those.

[Ironflight]

Originally Posted by woxofswa

.... but in a Boeing the other reindeer will laugh and call you names if you sport one of those.

That's funny....but then again, its hard to laugh with a flashlight in your mouth!

This is my latest little headlamp, a Petzl E+Lite. It's always in my pocket, has multiple brightness settings, red as well as white - and a retractable Kevlar (I think) string to use as a headband. The SD card next to it shows the size - one of the smaller items in my pocket. I use it almost every day for something or another.

Petzl - don't go under ground without one !

[rv7charlie]

Petzl may make great headlights, but they can't make a website for squat. It looks like something a CIA front company would put up, with almost no useful info. The only thing on their product page is an S & M jockstrap.

(Just kidding, but it really is a bad web site.)

http://www.petzl.com/company/sustain...ts?language=en

Charlie