Activating Rw lights...just for fun

On Aug 27, 9:37 am, "Al G" wrote:
"Ricky" wrote in message

oups.com...



O.K. so the "activating RW lights" thread got me thinking about the
many times I'd be over (or near) an airport at night and just clicked
them on for the heck of it. Well, sometimes it was to impress a
passenger, sometimes (as a student or new pilot) just to figure out
how it works, and a few times to confirm my location at night. Other
times I did it just to do it, you know, the "wow" factor.

So, have you ever turned on the RW lights just for the heck of it? On
the ground with a handheld? To confirm your location?

Ricky

I used to fly with a captain that got a real thrill out of turning
on the runway lights over the central valley of California, from 41,000'. He
was not the most considerate person I've ever met, in fact his initials were
MF, and he was retired LAPD.

Al G

HA, thats funny. I fly out of the central valley. Just about every
single airport 'round here uses either 122.7, 122.8, 123.05 or 122.9.
It wouldn't be that hard to literally turn them all on, especially
from a high altitude.

I used to be really considerate of airports operating costs. I only
turned on lights to either land, or to demonstrate to a student how to
turn on lights from in the air. And even then I always turned them off
when leaving (if applicable) or only put them on the lowest setting.
Then I did the math and realized it isn't really costing them
anything, so I feel less bad about it.

I'm one of those people that hates to waste anything. I often catch
myself flipping of the lights when I leave public bathrooms. It's just
a habit of mine.