End of Season Sunset Warning for SSA-OLC Participants

Marc Ramsey wrote:
lights, but it is hardly dangerous (and I know of a few people who have
installed lights for precisely this reason). In fact there are a few

So Mark, any chance of enlighetning(!) us about these installations?
I'm very interested in finding out how it was done both technically and
of course the legalities for my Standard airworthiness ASH-26E.

Thanks,
-Tom

"5Z" wrote in message
oups.com...

Marc Ramsey wrote:
lights, but it is hardly dangerous (and I know of a few people who have
installed lights for precisely this reason). In fact there are a few

So Mark, any chance of enlighetning(!) us about these installations?
I'm very interested in finding out how it was done both technically and
of course the legalities for my Standard airworthiness ASH-26E.

Thanks,
-Tom


There was a long thread on rec.aviation.homebuilding last year about home
made LED position lights. It turned out that the FAA specs are pretty
lenient - easily met with high-brightness LED's. The gist is that if you
met the FAA angular, brightness and color specifications, you could build
your own lights and get them signed of - at least for an experimental
airworthiness certificate.

I have seen pictures of glider winglets with red or green plastic (Plexi?)
tips that had high brightness LED's imbedded in them. Looking at the
current draw of these LED arrays it appears that a couple of "D" size
lithium batteries in each winglet would power them for 12 - 24 hours. That
would mean they could be left on for the entire flight so no in-wing wiring
or switches would be needed.

There is also a Nimbus 4DM in, I think, Argentina with an array of ultra
high brightness Luxeon white LED's on the landing gear as a landing light.
I doubt even these would actually light up a runway but they would be bright
enough to produce visible reflections from runway stripes and edge
reflectors.

Bill Daniels

Interesting. will these LED lights can also help the more common issue
of visibility during day time?

Ramy

Bill Daniels wrote:
"5Z" wrote in message
oups.com...

Marc Ramsey wrote:
lights, but it is hardly dangerous (and I know of a few people who have
installed lights for precisely this reason). In fact there are a few

So Mark, any chance of enlighetning(!) us about these installations?
I'm very interested in finding out how it was done both technically and
of course the legalities for my Standard airworthiness ASH-26E.

Thanks,
-Tom


There was a long thread on rec.aviation.homebuilding last year about home
made LED position lights. It turned out that the FAA specs are pretty
lenient - easily met with high-brightness LED's. The gist is that if you
met the FAA angular, brightness and color specifications, you could build
your own lights and get them signed of - at least for an experimental
airworthiness certificate.

I have seen pictures of glider winglets with red or green plastic (Plexi?)
tips that had high brightness LED's imbedded in them. Looking at the
current draw of these LED arrays it appears that a couple of "D" size
lithium batteries in each winglet would power them for 12 - 24 hours. That
would mean they could be left on for the entire flight so no in-wing wiring
or switches would be needed.

There is also a Nimbus 4DM in, I think, Argentina with an array of ultra
high brightness Luxeon white LED's on the landing gear as a landing light.
I doubt even these would actually light up a runway but they would be bright
enough to produce visible reflections from runway stripes and edge
reflectors.

Bill Daniels

Ramy wrote:
Interesting. will these LED lights can also help the more common issue
of visibility during day time?

Well, police cars and motorcycles around here are starting to use them.
I visted a couple websites that sell arrays to be mounted on an auto
sunvisor, for example. They have programmable flash patterns and come
in various colors. The specs were 1/3 to 1/2 amp current draw on the
cigarette lighter plug. But this is for fairly rapid flashing. If we
were to flash every 5-10 seconds, the draw may be reasonable.

-Tom

Under dim lighting conditions, LED position lights probably would help. In
bright noonday sun... well, it's hard to compete with the sun.

Bill Daniels

"Ramy" wrote in message
oups.com...
Interesting. will these LED lights can also help the more common issue
of visibility during day time?

Ramy

Bill Daniels wrote:
"5Z" wrote in message
oups.com...

Marc Ramsey wrote:
lights, but it is hardly dangerous (and I know of a few people who
have
installed lights for precisely this reason). In fact there are a few

So Mark, any chance of enlighetning(!) us about these installations?
I'm very interested in finding out how it was done both technically and
of course the legalities for my Standard airworthiness ASH-26E.

Thanks,
-Tom


There was a long thread on rec.aviation.homebuilding last year about home
made LED position lights. It turned out that the FAA specs are pretty
lenient - easily met with high-brightness LED's. The gist is that if you
met the FAA angular, brightness and color specifications, you could build
your own lights and get them signed of - at least for an experimental
airworthiness certificate.

I have seen pictures of glider winglets with red or green plastic
(Plexi?)
tips that had high brightness LED's imbedded in them. Looking at the
current draw of these LED arrays it appears that a couple of "D" size
lithium batteries in each winglet would power them for 12 - 24 hours.
That
would mean they could be left on for the entire flight so no in-wing
wiring
or switches would be needed.

There is also a Nimbus 4DM in, I think, Argentina with an array of ultra
high brightness Luxeon white LED's on the landing gear as a landing
light.
I doubt even these would actually light up a runway but they would be
bright
enough to produce visible reflections from runway stripes and edge
reflectors.

Bill Daniels

The requirements are given in AC 20-74, but I would not describe them
as "lenient - easily met." I agree that LED's could be a good solution,
but developing and testing a LED system for an aircraft installation is
not for the faint of heart. You can dowload it he
http://tinyurl.com/fm6df.

BTW, wouldnt adding position lights on the wingtips violate the span
limits for span limited classes (15m, 18m, 20m)?

Bill Daniels wrote:
"5Z" wrote in message
oups.com...

Marc Ramsey wrote:
lights, but it is hardly dangerous (and I know of a few people who have
installed lights for precisely this reason). In fact there are a few

So Mark, any chance of enlighetning(!) us about these installations?
I'm very interested in finding out how it was done both technically and
of course the legalities for my Standard airworthiness ASH-26E.

Thanks,
-Tom


There was a long thread on rec.aviation.homebuilding last year about home
made LED position lights. It turned out that the FAA specs are pretty
with high-brightness LED's. The gist is that if you
met the FAA angular, brightness and color specifications, you could build
your own lights and get them signed of - at least for an experimental
airworthiness certificate.

I have seen pictures of glider winglets with red or green plastic (Plexi?)
tips that had high brightness LED's imbedded in them. Looking at the
current draw of these LED arrays it appears that a couple of "D" size
lithium batteries in each winglet would power them for 12 - 24 hours. That
would mean they could be left on for the entire flight so no in-wing wiring
or switches would be needed.

There is also a Nimbus 4DM in, I think, Argentina with an array of ultra
high brightness Luxeon white LED's on the landing gear as a landing light.
I doubt even these would actually light up a runway but they would be bright
enough to produce visible reflections from runway stripes and edge
reflectors.

Bill Daniels

5Z wrote:
Marc Ramsey wrote:
lights, but it is hardly dangerous (and I know of a few people who have
installed lights for precisely this reason). In fact there are a few

So Mark, any chance of enlighetning(!) us about these installations?
I'm very interested in finding out how it was done both technically and
of course the legalities for my Standard airworthiness ASH-26E.

Actually, I understand that Schleicher is one of the companies that will
install the necessary wiring, and even provide an LED-based solution.
Just order a new one, and I'm sure they'll be happy to help you 8^)

Marc