"DanH" wrote in message
...

I check out a 172 from the club, but the landing light is burned out.
I'm flying "not for hire", VFR around a class G airport, so no
requirements for radios, transponder, or landing light (day or night).
The landing light switch has not been labeled, just a note in the squawk
sheet behind the tach sheets, or maybe not even squawked, perhaps I
found the problem during pre-flight.

Can I still legally fly this plane? It meets all the requirements for
day and night VFR if the landing light was not installed at all. But do
I have to have the equipment pulled or disabled to fly? What would the
owner (e.g. a flying club) need to do to allow this bird to fly in this
condition? (obviously repair the burned out bulb, but other than that).

The thread has veered off into arguments about MELs. If no MEL or MMEL, my
understanding purely from reading the regs is that you do indeed have to
mark the light inop and deactivate it. The day I took my Private checkride,
my school at the time finally replaced the landing light that had been burnt
out for a month. However, I was ready to show the DE that I could legally
stick a post-it on the switch and pull the breaker. I would have been wrong;
I should also have had it checked out by a PP or mechanic (91.213(d)(4)).

-- David Brooks