Simviation Forums

Not being a proffessional pilot whatare the regs regarding the lights. i.e when to use strobes ,landing lights etc

Assume commercial operations for all these-

-Whenever engine is on, beacon is on.  

-Nav lights are, in general, on shortly after startup.  

-Taxi lights on for taxi, if desired (duh)

-When cleared for takeoff, or during runway lineup, turn on strobes and landing lights.  The important thing to remember here is that these don't go on unil you're on or very near the runway.

-Above 10,000' MSL Landing/taxi lights off, when descending back through 10,000' MSL turn 'em back on.

-once you've cleared the runway after landing, landing lights and strobes off. HOWEVER: Whenever you cross an active runway, it is recommended you turn on strobes again, and then turn them back off once you're off the runway (this can be done quickly by hitting O)

-nav off once you're at the gate (unless it's night ops, in which case leave them on-they often do in real life AND the instrument panel lights are tied to them in many default fs planes)

-beacon off when engines are off

There ye go!

Real operations.

As soon as the battery is on at night, panel lights on
Before start, beacon on.
After start, Nav and Taxi on
Runway lineup, Landing Lights and Strobe on.
Passing 10000 feet on climb: everyhting off but strobes during day. At night, you can leave anything on you want really. You should leave the landing lights on at night, the window lights are tied to them in default planes.
descending through 10,000, all lights on for landing. You can leave taxi off since in reality it's tripped and won't turn on inside the wheel well anywhoo. Just make sure you turn it on before landing.
clear the runway, turn off strobes and landing lights.
parking, turn off all after engines are shutdown, EXCEPT you should leave panel lights on if the plane is going to be immediately turned over to another crew for another flight.

Another thing, sorry for extra post.

In small GA operations in America anyways, all use of lights in generally considered optional during the day. You should use at least the strobes when flying for safety purposes, and the landing lights during takeoff and landing, despite the short bulb life.
At night, it's considered a good idea to fly with nav, beacon, and strobes on. Taxi and Landing lights can stay off except for takeoff and landing.

Thanks for bringing this subject up as its practically impossible to find information about it anywhere else.  Do the AI aircraft abide by this though?  It seems as if they have everything off in the day and everything on in the night, regardless of where they are.