Comment on Why do airplanes have big front "headlights"?
Coreidan@lemmy.world 5 days ago
So they can be seen by other aircraft.
FAA requires that your landing lights are on at all times when ever you’re below 10k feet altitude.
Comment on Why do airplanes have big front "headlights"?
Coreidan@lemmy.world 5 days ago
So they can be seen by other aircraft.
FAA requires that your landing lights are on at all times when ever you’re below 10k feet altitude.
Kbobabob@lemmy.world 4 days ago
That’s what the marker lights are for not the headlights. Also if it’s a commercial plane as it sounds like it is traffic control and transponders kind of do that.
Coreidan@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Marker lights? You mean navigation lights, which are green and red lights. The port side of the aircraft has red lights, and starboard is green. This lets you know which side or direction the aircraft is facing. Boats and ships use the same logic. There is also a red flashing light at the bottom of the aircraft called the beacon, which is used to indicate to the ground crews that the engines are running.
The navigation and strobe lights help with being seen. So do the landing lights. It is why the FAA recommends that landing lights are turned on below 10k feet altitude. They aren’t required, but they are recommended so that the aircraft is easier seen at night as well as day. There is literally no other reason to use landing lights prior to turning final.
But due to the added safety of increasing your visibility, it is standard for all airlines to have it in their procedure to turn landing lights on as soon as 10k is crossed. Due to company SOP, pilots are therefore required to follow this procedure and it is purely for added safety. This is why you see all commercial aircraft do this, and why you may see non-commercial ignoring this recommendation.
This is coming from someone with years of commercial aviation experience so take it however you’d like.
Kbobabob@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I was making the assumption that most people didn’t know what navigation lights, port, aft, etc mean and marker lights is just a general term that I hope most people understand. I am lazy and didn’t feel like explaining but you did a good job.
14th_cylon@lemm.ee 4 days ago
airplanes are routinely told to watch for a traffic in their vicinity. also, aviation is all about procedures and backups, so if someone makes a mistake, it is good if there is another link in the chain to prevent accident.