Quick question...

[Spitfire23]

Hey guys, i know we have quite a few aircraft experts and such and i know my stuff. However I'm not up to date on Aircraft lights (Such as mandatory ones)

So the question is, which lights are ALWAYS on during flight (I'm talking Military fighters) do all military fighters require their NAV lights (Red & Green) to be on at ALL times?

Are military fighters allowed to turn these off during night flights? maybe in some kind of training mission in formation?

Lastly, do Military Fighters have a Red light that pulses brighter and dimmer (Not strobes) constantly?

Cheers guys, i've looked over the basics but i'm not all that familiar with all lights.

[winny]

I'm no expert on Aircraft lights but I know that all aircraft have to have a flashing red (can be rotating or strobing) collision beacon on top and underneath the fuselage. I also know that all military aircraft have the ability to switch off the nav lights but I don't know when they can legally do it, other than on active duty.

[Spitfire23]

Cheers buddy, it's just i saw three red pulsating orbs in the sky over my house in some sort of lop-sided triangle formation and wondered what the hell they were, couldn't see any NAV lights or anything.

Still pretty confused haha

[bobbysocks]

white strobe should be on the tail. red strobe underneath....wings red ( let me double check cos i am dyslexic..lol)left/port and green right/starboard... at least on civilian "light" aircraft...cessena, piper, etc, and i dont see why mil would be different. Larger craft have more strobes and rotating beacons ( red )...as to exceptions as to when they can run with out them...nada clue.

[Robotic Pope]

Yes, Military planes have to abide by civilian aircraft rules when in civilian airspace. Over military airspace I would think each countries airforce would have their own rules.

Spitfire, You never seen a UFO before? lol

[Spitfire23]

Originally Posted by Robotic Pope

Yes, Military planes have to abide by civilian aircraft rules when in civilian airspace. Over military airspace I would think each countries airforce would have their own rules.

Spitfire, You never seen a UFO before? lol

Fascinating! thanks Pope!

No never seen one before, although i do research the damn things i've never come across one. Until now i think lol

i saw 3 Red pulsating balls of light flying in formation, i'm wanting to think it's these notorious Fake plane ufo's everyone is seeing.

So can you confirm, they NEED to have the red and Green NAV lights on?

If so i'm pretty excited

[nuklhed808]

there are basically 4 types of external lights used. 1) anti-collision lights; 2 rotating red lights. 1 located on top and and 1 located on the bottom of the AC near the center. these two lights are the first to be turned on and the last to be turned off whenever the AC is put into operation. 2) position lights; 1 red and 1 green constant illumination lights. green on the starboard side, and red on the port side (in relation to the pilot) placed on the leading edge of the wing tips. these are used to tell the direction of flight of other AC. 3) navigation lights. white constant illumination lights placed on the trailing edge of both wing tips. they can also be placed on the trailing edge tips of the horizontal stabs and the trailing edge tip of the vertical stab. 4)strobe lights; high intesity white lights placed just aft of the position lights, used to further increase the AC's visibility. these 4 types of lights must be on whenever the AC is in operation. modern military AC use one other type of external light. formation lights; low intesity electro-luminescence strips (with dimmer capability) placed on the vertical fin/stabilizer, wing tips, and fore and aft of the wing root on the fuselage. these are used for spacial orientation during formation flying.
the military can fly in a "lights out" mode, but only in select military operations areas (MOA), using NVG, and under very strict FAA flight rules

[Spitfire23]

Nice one Nucklhed

This is leaning more towards a UFO case then, seeing as there were three red pulsating orbs, each of them individual.

Otherwise if all three lights were part of the same craft this thing must have been well over 400 meters long.

Damn, if only i had this on camera

[markyboyacebassist]

Originally Posted by Spitfire23

Nice one Nucklhed

This is leaning more towards a UFO case then, seeing as there were three red pulsating orbs, each of them individual.

Otherwise if all three lights were part of the same craft this thing must have been well over 400 meters long.

Damn, if only i had this on camera

Their OUT there you know! BELIEVE!!

[gbtstr]

Yep, like nuklhed said:

1) red anti-smash,
2) nav/position lights, red on the port wing, green starboard, and white on the tail and/or the wings,
3) white strobes, typically on the wingtips and tail,
4) landing lights.

Anti-smash is typically on from start-up to shutdown. In the air, they are mostly useful at night, just being one additional light source to help you see a plane in the dark. On the ground, it's a way to communicate to people that that aircraft has started/is about to start its engine(s) and there will be spinning props/jet engines in operation.

Nav/Pos lights are usually only used at night. They don't help much in the daytime.

Strobes are typically turned on right before takeoff and remain on until landing - day or night.

Landing lights are turned on prior to takeoff and secured after landing. Depending on the aircraft, some require you to turn them off to avoid overheating things in the wheel well after gear retraction. Most aircraft have some type of cutoff switch which breaks the circuit to the gear lights when up and locked. Other aircraft may have landing lights in the wings.

Taxi lights may be used on some aircraft as a lower intensity (to the landing light) light source to taxi at night.

Naval aircraft have a set near the nose gear that has 3 small lights (from top to bottom: green, amber, red) which correspond with the AoA indexers in the cockpit. This provides the LSOs with an easy way of telling whether the pilot is flying on-speed, fast, or slow.

As has been said, aircraft, military or civilian, generally follow the same aviation rules in regards to when lights need to be on. Usually, military rules are more stringent than civilian general aviation. Lights would only be out at night on military aircraft under special circumstances and in special airspace to avoid/minimize the potential for a collision, or in combat when looking like a Christmas tree would call the wrong kind of attention.