Landing lights: Looking for ideas

Leonard_Smith_nz · #1 10-20-2005, 01:59 PM

All,

I'm looking for ideas of where to place my landing lights. For various reasons I don't have any choice but to go with positioning in the cowls (or possible wheels spats).

Standing in front of the aircraft last night I was wondering about the feasibility of the cowl air inlet 'chin' (possible one on each side). There's an inch or so of relatively flat surface and a well protected area inside. This would be great if I could find relatively small (and durable) lights that are oval shaped.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Regards,
Leonard (RV6 in New Zealand)

dan · #2 10-20-2005, 02:09 PM

Why can't you put 'em in the wings?

)_( Dan
RV-7 N714D
http://www.rvproject.com

gmcjetpilot · #3 10-20-2005, 02:12 PM

The Vibs on the cowl play havoc with bulbs. Many Pipers with this set up have bulb life in the 20's of hours. I know I had one, and was stuck with an expensive sealed beam of marginal light output.

Suggest you don't re-invent the wheel. Buy one of the existing landing light kits that places it in the wing leading edge or wing tip. I made custom light set-ups on both of my RV's, one in the leading edge and the latest in the wing tip. They both came out nice, but I spent a lot of time on them.

I would also just suggest you ask yourself one question:

How much night flying are you really honestly going to do, and what airports are you to likely land at during night Ops?

I have seen RV's with full IFR that never fly IFR and RV's with full lights and the owner flies 0 to 2 hours a year at IFR/night and lands only at large airports, with good runway, taxi and ramp lighting.

If you are going to remote airports with nominal, min or nil lighting you would want the most light you could get, like two wing leading edge light (Halogen or HID). If you need a little light the small 75watt wing tip halogen lights may be acceptable. As I mentioned bulb life in the cowl is short. G

Leonard_Smith_nz · #4 10-20-2005, 04:14 PM

Chaps,

Thanks for your thoughts.

Dan, my wings are already painted and the fibreglass tips are on. (Yeah, a bit late to start thinking about lights, I know).

If I am honest with myself it's really more of a nice to have than a necessity. The airport where I'm likely to land a/h does have runway lights, but they're not great by anyone's standards. Still, I may be able to manage...

Thanks again.
Leonard

Quote:

Originally Posted by dan

Why can't you put 'em in the wings?

)_( Dan
RV-7 N714D
http://www.rvproject.com

jcoloccia · #5 10-20-2005, 04:40 PM

I looked through the Duckworks install instructions and some builder installations. It seems like you should be able to retrofit them without that much more work than installing them while building the wing.

Anyone have the Duckworks installed that can back this up or tell me I'm full of it?

-John

Captain_John · #6 10-20-2005, 05:32 PM

John,

The Duckworks lights CAN be retrofitted onto the completed wing.

The kit is a good one! I can see the apprehension one might have when cutting into a completed airplane part.

Go for it! The first cut is the most expensive!

CJ

gmcjetpilot · #7 10-20-2005, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonard_Smith_nz

Chaps,

Thanks for your thoughts.

If I am honest with myself it's really more of a nice to have than a necessity. The airport where I'm likely to land a/h does have runway lights, but they're not great by anyone's standards. Still, I may be able to manage...Thanks again. Leonard

Leonard: This comes under wild idea category if you don't want to chop holes and add weight & cost.

I find the most challenge at night comes in the taxi phase. Runway Ops (with runway lights) is not a big issue for occasional night flying. However crazy idea comes from using a hand-held searchlight. With a sliding canopy (and warmer dry weather) you could easily hang the light out for taxi, for those occasional night flights. Do you have a spare hand during taxi? Usually unless it is windy and you need to fly the stick on the ground. No flames please, I have not done this myself but seems resonable. There is no warranty on this idea.

G

Highflight · #8 10-21-2005, 03:47 AM

Not a bad thought GMC.
If one of these don't do it fer' 'ya,
http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/12volspot.html

then maybe this might work;
http://scienceservice.si.edu/122007.htm

You bring up a good point about actual use of landing lights in that very few people probably NEED to use them as landing lights if they really think about how they'll be using their aircraft.

For my part, my primary "need" for landing lights is for traffic avoidance so other people can see me. For that, the 75w lights in each tip are more than enough, and while maybe not light blasters, they're still practical for lightening up a night time landing on a runway (which I hardly ever envision a "need" to do for my kind of flying).

Now since what we fly are labeled "Experimental", I'm sure some inventive soul will soon figure out a way to fair-in a 10,000,000 candlepower search light into the top of the vertical stab...

N941WR · #9 10-21-2005, 05:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Highflight

Now since what we fly are labeled "Experimental", I'm sure some inventive soul will soon figure out a way to fair-in a 10,000,000 candlepower search light into the top of the vertical stab...

Although it would look cool, it is not such a good idea. I remember from my days crewing for a Pro Rally driver years ago that you want to set up your lights so you look into them, not through them. Jeep guys who mount lights up on the top of the windshield aren't doing themselves any favors.

Pulling the wing tips and cutting the holes for the Ducksworth lights isn't that big of a deal. Just protect the paint and use a Body Saw to cut the holes.

Please tell me if this idea is out of line, I am installing two landing lights on different switches. One will be aimed for taxing w/ the tail down and the other will be straight out for landing.

Kahuna · #10 10-21-2005, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcoloccia

I looked through the Duckworks install instructions and some builder installations. It seems like you should be able to retrofit them without that much more work than installing them while building the wing.

Anyone have the Duckworks installed that can back this up or tell me I'm full of it?

-John

It is no more or less complicated with a completed painted wing than during construction. I have installed one on a completed painted wing. Care should be taked when cutting with a cut off wheel to not overheat the alum and cut slowly, not burn, through the metal. No dremels here. Got to use a cut off wheel in a die grinder. Drill through the corners, cut in between, problem solved. When dimpling the skin for screws, warm the area with a heat gun prior ro squeezing the dimple so you dont chip paint. You want to soften the pain before squeezing lest you risk chipping.
Will be no problem.
Go for it.
Kahuna