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#1
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Anti collision light mod for Piper Arrow 1968 model?
Hi!
We are doing some major upgrade to our Piper Arrow 180hp. We are putting in a factory overhauled engine, upgrading the interior to leathcer (seats, panels, new carpeting), installing an S-TEC system 20 one axis autopilot, as well as a new Bendix/King KI208 indicator. This airplane did not come standard with the flashing white lights on the wingtips like the newer ones have. I guess they are called "anti-collision" lights or something like this? Is it possible to install these to this plane? Is there a mod for it? Anyone have any experience with installing them? What are the costs involved in this? Also, do they really make a big difference in visibility to other planes up there? I somehow think I see planes easier that have them on, but I rarely get the chance to see two planes at the same time while flying, one with and one without, so I can't really say... Anyway, any opinions welcome, also ane web sites to piper parts and mods would be appreciated! Thanks, Frode Berg LN-LMR |
#2
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I'm not sure which lights you are referring to. Tip strobes are anticollision
lights, and are required on newer aircraft. Wingtip landing lights can be added to cherokees, and those can be made to flash with a flasher unit such as the Avtek pulsar. Both the strobes and the wingtip landing lights, as well as the flasher are STC'd for PA-28's and PA32's. I installed both the strobes and the wingtip landing lights on my '65 Cherokee Six 6 or 7 years ago. If you have the fuel tanks out for service bulletin 1006 (spar corrosion inspection), it is fairly easy to add the lighting. If not, then I imagine it would be next to impossible to pull the wiring through the wing. I put on Whelen comet flash tip strobes. Whelen holds an STC for them. I think there is also an STC for aeroflash brand strobes. When I put mine in, the strobe kit was a few hundred $ (check aircraft spruce or chief aircraft for pricing). Strobe installation involves mounting a power pack under the seat or two power packs, one in each wingtip, pulling wires through the wings, along the left wall, and adding a switch to the panel. In my case, I replaced the rotating beacon switch with a split rocker switch labelled for strobes and rotating beacon. That was exactly the same size as the original switch. I think I got that from A/C Spruce. I got combined strobe & nav light assemblies that fit on in place of the old nav lights. I think there is also a conversion kit that replaces the metal cover on the nav light, but that set up involves machining the backer plate. Pulling the wires is the hard part. I enlarged the tooling holes in the wing ribs, put grommets in those and pulled the wire through them. All told, the strobes took 6-8 hours to install, not counting the time to remove and replace the fuel tanks. I also added the extra inspection cover between the two inboard ribs per SB988(?), which made pulling the wires through that part easier. The wing tip landing lights are made by several vendors. My Cherokee Six has the fiberglass tip tanks, so my only option was a set of lights made by skycraft in new hampshire. Install for these lights involve cutting rectangular holes in the sheet metal leading edge of the wing and riveting in the lamp assembly, doublers etc. The skycraft kit was $695, which included the lamps, and all the lamp assembly parts, instructions, a special router bit for cutting the wing, the STC paperwork, wire and a switch. The STC has the wire routed in alumimum tubing clamped into the aerilon gap, so you don't have to have the wings opened up to add these. Since mine were already open, we pulled the wire together with the strobe wires through the grommets in the wing ribs. I think the install time was something like 15 hours for these. For cherokees without fiberglass tip tanks, there are replacement wing tips available with landing lights in them. Lopresti and AMR&D(?) both have them, and I think there is another as well. I don't have any experience with those, but I imagine the install time is considerably less since there is no sheet metal work. The kits cost about 3x the skycraft kit, so the overall cost is probably about the same, plus with the new wing tips there is more to paint to finish the job. (the skycraft kit only has a thin metal frame showing on the outside of the wing, which you can get away with leaving unpainted. The inside of the cutout gets painted flat black to prevent distracting reflections). The wing mounted lights are a huge plus on the cherokee Six, because for that airplane, the original nose light mostly just lights up the pavement in front of the plane that is obscured by the long nose. Plus the wing tip lights are not subject to the vibration that the nose light is, so they last much longer. The skycraft lights are certified wth Q4509 halogen lights. I've got several hundred hours on those lamps, which are on a recognition flasher on every flight. Frode Berg wrote: Hi! We are doing some major upgrade to our Piper Arrow 180hp. We are putting in a factory overhauled engine, upgrading the interior to leathcer (seats, panels, new carpeting), installing an S-TEC system 20 one axis autopilot, as well as a new Bendix/King KI208 indicator. This airplane did not come standard with the flashing white lights on the wingtips like the newer ones have. I guess they are called "anti-collision" lights or something like this? Is it possible to install these to this plane? Is there a mod for it? Anyone have any experience with installing them? What are the costs involved in this? Also, do they really make a big difference in visibility to other planes up there? I somehow think I see planes easier that have them on, but I rarely get the chance to see two planes at the same time while flying, one with and one without, so I can't really say... Anyway, any opinions welcome, also ane web sites to piper parts and mods would be appreciated! Thanks, Frode Berg LN-LMR -- --Ray Andraka, P.E. President, the Andraka Consulting Group, Inc. 401/884-7930 Fax 401/884-7950 http://www.andraka.com "They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin, 1759 |
#3
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Thanks for your reply!
I was initially thinking of the Tip strobes, which I believe we call anti collision lights here. The Piper Warriors (70's models) in the flying club I started in have these, but our Arrow 68, only has the nav lights. Do you have a web site for part suppliers that might have price lists? Thanks again for your long and interesting post! I won't be installing anything myself, as I am useless with a screwdriver.....(not the fluid one....) Frode "Ray Andraka" skrev i melding ... I'm not sure which lights you are referring to. Tip strobes are anticollision lights, and are required on newer aircraft. Wingtip landing lights can be added to cherokees, and those can be made to flash with a flasher unit such as the Avtek pulsar. Both the strobes and the wingtip landing lights, as well as the flasher are STC'd for PA-28's and PA32's. I installed both the strobes and the wingtip landing lights on my '65 Cherokee Six 6 or 7 years ago. If you have the fuel tanks out for service bulletin 1006 (spar corrosion inspection), it is fairly easy to add the lighting. If not, then I imagine it would be next to impossible to pull the wiring through the wing. I put on Whelen comet flash tip strobes. Whelen holds an STC for them. I think there is also an STC for aeroflash brand strobes. When I put mine in, the strobe kit was a few hundred $ (check aircraft spruce or chief aircraft for pricing). Strobe installation involves mounting a power pack under the seat or two power packs, one in each wingtip, pulling wires through the wings, along the left wall, and adding a switch to the panel. In my case, I replaced the rotating beacon switch with a split rocker switch labelled for strobes and rotating beacon. That was exactly the same size as the original switch. I think I got that from A/C Spruce. I got combined strobe & nav light assemblies that fit on in place of the old nav lights. I think there is also a conversion kit that replaces the metal cover on the nav light, but that set up involves machining the backer plate. Pulling the wires is the hard part. I enlarged the tooling holes in the wing ribs, put grommets in those and pulled the wire through them. All told, the strobes took 6-8 hours to install, not counting the time to remove and replace the fuel tanks. I also added the extra inspection cover between the two inboard ribs per SB988(?), which made pulling the wires through that part easier. The wing tip landing lights are made by several vendors. My Cherokee Six has the fiberglass tip tanks, so my only option was a set of lights made by skycraft in new hampshire. Install for these lights involve cutting rectangular holes in the sheet metal leading edge of the wing and riveting in the lamp assembly, doublers etc. The skycraft kit was $695, which included the lamps, and all the lamp assembly parts, instructions, a special router bit for cutting the wing, the STC paperwork, wire and a switch. The STC has the wire routed in alumimum tubing clamped into the aerilon gap, so you don't have to have the wings opened up to add these. Since mine were already open, we pulled the wire together with the strobe wires through the grommets in the wing ribs. I think the install time was something like 15 hours for these. For cherokees without fiberglass tip tanks, there are replacement wing tips available with landing lights in them. Lopresti and AMR&D(?) both have them, and I think there is another as well. I don't have any experience with those, but I imagine the install time is considerably less since there is no sheet metal work. The kits cost about 3x the skycraft kit, so the overall cost is probably about the same, plus with the new wing tips there is more to paint to finish the job. (the skycraft kit only has a thin metal frame showing on the outside of the wing, which you can get away with leaving unpainted. The inside of the cutout gets painted flat black to prevent distracting reflections). The wing mounted lights are a huge plus on the cherokee Six, because for that airplane, the original nose light mostly just lights up the pavement in front of the plane that is obscured by the long nose. Plus the wing tip lights are not subject to the vibration that the nose light is, so they last much longer. The skycraft lights are certified wth Q4509 halogen lights. I've got several hundred hours on those lamps, which are on a recognition flasher on every flight. Frode Berg wrote: Hi! We are doing some major upgrade to our Piper Arrow 180hp. We are putting in a factory overhauled engine, upgrading the interior to leathcer (seats, panels, new carpeting), installing an S-TEC system 20 one axis autopilot, as well as a new Bendix/King KI208 indicator. This airplane did not come standard with the flashing white lights on the wingtips like the newer ones have. I guess they are called "anti-collision" lights or something like this? Is it possible to install these to this plane? Is there a mod for it? Anyone have any experience with installing them? What are the costs involved in this? Also, do they really make a big difference in visibility to other planes up there? I somehow think I see planes easier that have them on, but I rarely get the chance to see two planes at the same time while flying, one with and one without, so I can't really say... Anyway, any opinions welcome, also ane web sites to piper parts and mods would be appreciated! Thanks, Frode Berg LN-LMR -- --Ray Andraka, P.E. President, the Andraka Consulting Group, Inc. 401/884-7930 Fax 401/884-7950 http://www.andraka.com "They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin, 1759 |
#4
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http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...a650strobe.php
The strobes are often called anti-collision lights or strobes (in fact my panel switch is marked ant-coll) here is the switch I used to replace the rotating beacon switch when I put the strobes on: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...eaconsplit.php. The flashing landing lights are often called recognition flashers. Frode Berg wrote: Thanks for your reply! I was initially thinking of the Tip strobes, which I believe we call anti collision lights here. The Piper Warriors (70's models) in the flying club I started in have these, but our Arrow 68, only has the nav lights. Do you have a web site for part suppliers that might have price lists? Thanks again for your long and interesting post! I won't be installing anything myself, as I am useless with a screwdriver.....(not the fluid one....) Frode "Ray Andraka" skrev i melding ... I'm not sure which lights you are referring to. Tip strobes are anticollision lights, and are required on newer aircraft. Wingtip landing lights can be added to cherokees, and those can be made to flash with a flasher unit such as the Avtek pulsar. Both the strobes and the wingtip landing lights, as well as the flasher are STC'd for PA-28's and PA32's. I installed both the strobes and the wingtip landing lights on my '65 Cherokee Six 6 or 7 years ago. If you have the fuel tanks out for service bulletin 1006 (spar corrosion inspection), it is fairly easy to add the lighting. If not, then I imagine it would be next to impossible to pull the wiring through the wing. I put on Whelen comet flash tip strobes. Whelen holds an STC for them. I think there is also an STC for aeroflash brand strobes. When I put mine in, the strobe kit was a few hundred $ (check aircraft spruce or chief aircraft for pricing). Strobe installation involves mounting a power pack under the seat or two power packs, one in each wingtip, pulling wires through the wings, along the left wall, and adding a switch to the panel. In my case, I replaced the rotating beacon switch with a split rocker switch labelled for strobes and rotating beacon. That was exactly the same size as the original switch. I think I got that from A/C Spruce. I got combined strobe & nav light assemblies that fit on in place of the old nav lights. I think there is also a conversion kit that replaces the metal cover on the nav light, but that set up involves machining the backer plate. Pulling the wires is the hard part. I enlarged the tooling holes in the wing ribs, put grommets in those and pulled the wire through them. All told, the strobes took 6-8 hours to install, not counting the time to remove and replace the fuel tanks. I also added the extra inspection cover between the two inboard ribs per SB988(?), which made pulling the wires through that part easier. The wing tip landing lights are made by several vendors. My Cherokee Six has the fiberglass tip tanks, so my only option was a set of lights made by skycraft in new hampshire. Install for these lights involve cutting rectangular holes in the sheet metal leading edge of the wing and riveting in the lamp assembly, doublers etc. The skycraft kit was $695, which included the lamps, and all the lamp assembly parts, instructions, a special router bit for cutting the wing, the STC paperwork, wire and a switch. The STC has the wire routed in alumimum tubing clamped into the aerilon gap, so you don't have to have the wings opened up to add these. Since mine were already open, we pulled the wire together with the strobe wires through the grommets in the wing ribs. I think the install time was something like 15 hours for these. For cherokees without fiberglass tip tanks, there are replacement wing tips available with landing lights in them. Lopresti and AMR&D(?) both have them, and I think there is another as well. I don't have any experience with those, but I imagine the install time is considerably less since there is no sheet metal work. The kits cost about 3x the skycraft kit, so the overall cost is probably about the same, plus with the new wing tips there is more to paint to finish the job. (the skycraft kit only has a thin metal frame showing on the outside of the wing, which you can get away with leaving unpainted. The inside of the cutout gets painted flat black to prevent distracting reflections). The wing mounted lights are a huge plus on the cherokee Six, because for that airplane, the original nose light mostly just lights up the pavement in front of the plane that is obscured by the long nose. Plus the wing tip lights are not subject to the vibration that the nose light is, so they last much longer. The skycraft lights are certified wth Q4509 halogen lights. I've got several hundred hours on those lamps, which are on a recognition flasher on every flight. Frode Berg wrote: Hi! We are doing some major upgrade to our Piper Arrow 180hp. We are putting in a factory overhauled engine, upgrading the interior to leathcer (seats, panels, new carpeting), installing an S-TEC system 20 one axis autopilot, as well as a new Bendix/King KI208 indicator. This airplane did not come standard with the flashing white lights on the wingtips like the newer ones have. I guess they are called "anti-collision" lights or something like this? Is it possible to install these to this plane? Is there a mod for it? Anyone have any experience with installing them? What are the costs involved in this? Also, do they really make a big difference in visibility to other planes up there? I somehow think I see planes easier that have them on, but I rarely get the chance to see two planes at the same time while flying, one with and one without, so I can't really say... Anyway, any opinions welcome, also ane web sites to piper parts and mods would be appreciated! Thanks, Frode Berg LN-LMR -- --Ray Andraka, P.E. President, the Andraka Consulting Group, Inc. 401/884-7930 Fax 401/884-7950 http://www.andraka.com "They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin, 1759 -- --Ray Andraka, P.E. President, the Andraka Consulting Group, Inc. 401/884-7930 Fax 401/884-7950 http://www.andraka.com "They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin, 1759 |
#5
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Frode,
Do you mean strobe lights or flashing landing lights? -Nathan On Wed, 19 May 2004 23:51:20 +0200, "Frode Berg" wrote: Hi! We are doing some major upgrade to our Piper Arrow 180hp. We are putting in a factory overhauled engine, upgrading the interior to leathcer (seats, panels, new carpeting), installing an S-TEC system 20 one axis autopilot, as well as a new Bendix/King KI208 indicator. This airplane did not come standard with the flashing white lights on the wingtips like the newer ones have. I guess they are called "anti-collision" lights or something like this? Is it possible to install these to this plane? Is there a mod for it? Anyone have any experience with installing them? What are the costs involved in this? Also, do they really make a big difference in visibility to other planes up there? I somehow think I see planes easier that have them on, but I rarely get the chance to see two planes at the same time while flying, one with and one without, so I can't really say... Anyway, any opinions welcome, also ane web sites to piper parts and mods would be appreciated! Thanks, Frode Berg LN-LMR |
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