Military A/C Strobe Usage

[msm8378]

Question for any active/veteran USAF folks...

I see many C-130s doing TNG at KHOP, both day and night, and rarely (if ever) do I see them with white wing strobes in use.

In an effort to make some of my AI flights more realistic, could someone please explain this observation and perhaps lend some inside info as to the criteria for military flights using specific light settings...

Thanks,

Mat

[Graham King]

The USAF C-130's do not have white wing strobes. They have white stobes on the top and the bottom of the fuselage.

As for the rest of your question I would be interested in the answer also.

[msm8378]

Graham...

Thanks for the reply. In relation to your answer, is the same true for the C-130J series...no wing-tip strobes?

Mat

[Victory103]

Not sure about the Herks, I'll ask around, but most Army aircraft have a 2 light setting for the anti-collision lights. We use white strobes during the day and red for night for single ship operations. I know some aircraft only have one color (CH-47).
ex: H-60 day/night anti-coll, upper/lower/both
position lights, steady/flash, bright/dim
Then we could go into our NVG/IR lights next time!

UPDATE, from the info I researched, the -130 uses the same basic set up, although on u-tube I only watched one "J" model vid that was using a white anti-smack light, wings were position lights only, and "H" series using red during the day.

[Graham King]

The J's are the same. Here is a photo of the wing tip http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Ai ... 1656472/L/

There is only the nav light on the end. The perspex on the front of the wing tip houses a landing light and the USAF are pretty much the only air force that have this option.

I have yet to see a video/photo of a C-130 flashing lights other than on the fuselage or fin. I would be most interested if somebody knows of any other location for a white flashing light.

I was watching a program the other night with a Westland Lynx taking off from the deck of a destroyer and he was flashing his red and green nav lights. I also remember a video of an F-16 running it's engine on the ground and that was also flashing it's nav lights. The variety of options on lights is something we cannot duplicate with AI so we mostly go with fixed nav lights. Having said that I have 30+ setups for the C-130's when I paint them for a package.

[tango234]

Westland Lynx taking off from the deck of a destroyer and he was flashing his red and green nav lights.

Royal Navy Caribbean patrol?

On topic, it seems slightly odd that the light layouts on hercs can be so different, but if thats what airforces want....

[phantomfreak]

The nav lights flashing is normally done on the ground from power on to engine start. My guess is that is done for safety to keep someone from driving into the airplane. The flashing light in my opinion being an attention getter. The strobe lights are always turned on at engine start and are not turned off until shutdown. Let's everyone know that the airplane has engines running.

[ahs06]

During daytime operations the FAA requires a pilot to have either strobes(intense whites) or beacon(red) along with the nav lights. Even if an aircraft is at a military field, they still have to follow most FAA regs. Every time a crew was getting ready to go at the airport I worked at, all the lights came on for the walk around. Everything but the nav lights and logo lights went off till departure once the walk around was done. The beacon came on again before push back/engine start if that came first. The strobes usually come on about the point where they are getting close to the runway and get turned off once they land. The beacon isn't turned off till the engines are dead and they are at the gate/pad. Of course the military has been known to do its own thing.

[Victory103]

Correct gents, it's really based on local procedures, although we do have the minimum FAA lighting. For us to fly with no lights, we have to submit an LOA to the FAA to get the clearance to do this in set SUA. Generally at least one aircraft in the flight will have to meet FAA requirements.
In the Navy we used the flashing position lights for start-up, going steady once the aircraft was ready to taxi.
In the Army, we don't use the position lights until after sunset/IMC. Some units use the flashing setting for a maintenance issues.

[phantomfreak]

Also don't forget to flash your landing lights at the marshaller.