What is legal is not necessarily safe. Personally, when I'm flying at night I
want to make sure I am visible and I wish everyone else did too. Two (you can
see at most two from any angle that matters) steady and not very bright lights
may have been sufficient in the 1950's when there was little light on the
ground, but these days you might as well be flyng with all your lights off.
Hard to do see and avoid if you can't see what you are avoiding. Even just
mounting a single strobe on your tail would be a big improvement.


"Grandpa B." wrote:

Dang it! I deleted all the old messages from the newsgroup, and can't post a
follow-up in the existing thread. Double-dang!

Anyway, here's the answer to my own question about whether my Champ project
needs to have anti-collision lighting installed.

Short answer: No.

Not-so-short answer: The official FAA Type certificate is currently owned by
American Champion Aircraft, of Rochester, Wisconsin (I knew that). The
certificate was issued according to Aircraft Specification A-759, which has
all the old and current Champ-derived airframe types. Mine rolled off the
Champion assembly line in April of 1958, which was after the requirement for
lights, BUT, the type certificate was issued on March 27, 1957! That's good
news, as the requirement for anti-collision lighting states that, prior to
April 01, 1957, no anti-collision lighting is required. Under the wire by 3
(or 4) days, depending on how you count.

Now, does that mean it isn't a Good Idea to have strobes on an old aircraft?
Of course not! My night-time flying will be rare, though, and if I don't
gotta have 'em, I just might not install 'em.

By the way, I learned all this from the official FAA website, which has
everything you can possibly care about (and a lot you don't) on it.

Jon B.

--
--Ray Andraka, P.E.
President, the Andraka Consulting Group, Inc.
401/884-7930 Fax 401/884-7950
email
http://www.andraka.com

"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little
temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin, 1759