"Mutts" wrote in message
...

Any rental pilot/flying club types out there carrying spare postion
light bulbs with them? Do you have to be an A&P to change them? Do
owners frown on replacing bulbs without being informed first?

No, you don't have to be an A&P. I don't have an airplane on leaseback, but
if I did, I would expect that a renting pilot would either get the FBO/club
mechanic to change the bulb if the airplane was home, or change it
themselves if the airplane was not and lights were required for their
flight.

In other words, I'd prefer that renting pilots not change bulbs (or do other
preventative maintenance that involves removing airplane parts) but
realistically, most renting pilots are entirely competent to handle the task
and would certainly be expected to do so if the task was required for safe
and legal flight.

How hard is it to change them on Archers and 172s?

Never changed them on either of those types, but on my own plane, it's no
harder than changing the tail light, signal, etc. bulb on a car. Usually
just a couple of screws to remove for the lens, and the bulb pops right out.
The hard part is finding the right bulb. Landing and taxi lights are
slightly harder, but still within most folks abilities.

Now, all that said, if you are frequently finding the bulbs burned out, you
may want to rethink who you're renting airplanes from, or at least suggest
to the airplane owners/operators that there might be something causing the
bulbs to fail prematurely. I've owned my airplane for nearly ten years now,
and have only had to replace two bulbs, both of them nav lights.

Pete