Aircraft lights

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Hedgehog
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Aircraft lights

Post by Hedgehog » Thu Jun 25, 2020 8:08 am

We've never really concerned ourselves much with aircraft external lights during missions, but with recent sim lighting issues, we need to.

- Hornet external lights are way too bright at a distance.
- Reportedly there is logic in the sim that makes you an easier target for AAA gunners if your lights are on at night.

You should know the location and function of each of these light systems in your cockpit.

Strobe: Switch outboard of throttles. ON by default. Flashing strobe comes on when you start an engine.

Position: Dimmer knob outboard of throttles. OFF by default. Red/green and white on tail.

Formation: Dimmer knob outboard of throttles. OFF by default. Green strip lights, aka "slime lights."

External Lights toggle: Switch on left throttle handle. ON by default. Kills all above external lights.

Landing/Taxi: Switch on left panel under gear handle. OFF by default. Bright forward white light.

What's important about external lights:

a) In a mission, the Flight Leader commands your lights situation, especially at night. "Fence In" automatically includes "Smash Dark," which means to extinguish all external lights. FLs may adjust as necessary. For example, formation lights are low intensity and not easily seen from any appreciable distance, so may remain on at night when over enemy territory.

b) Real world, landing/taxi lights are never used on the carrier flight deck, neither for taxi, launch, or recovery. They blind everyone on deck (including other pilots in the sim). There should be enough light on deck to see where you need to go. If you can't, check gamma in your graphics settings, and/or try NVGs.

c) Real world, external lights are not energized on startup on the carrier, and only turned on to indicate 'ready to launch.' Not really a factor for us, use as you care to.

d) FOR RECOVERY ON THE CARRIER: Turn off position lights when on final. They are WAY TOO BRIGHT in the sim right now, and make it very difficult for other pilots to see. Then, TURN OFF ALL EXTERNAL LIGHTS AFTER TRAP.* Same reason. Planes on deck with external lights on make it virtually impossible to see the flight deck.

*See next post.
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Hedgehog
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Re: Aircraft lights

Post by Hedgehog » Fri Oct 14, 2022 8:09 pm

As has been demonstrated in some recent missions, trapping at night can leave you trying to taxi to a safe parking spot on a very dark deck. And you may not be able to see other aircraft already parked.

Keep in mind that once you're on deck, you can always request NVGs and get them almost immediately.

And, we have shown that Formation Lights are not bright enough to distract pilots trying to land. Therefore, you may leave ONLY FORMATION LIGHTS ON after you trap at night so others can see where you are. Make sure Position Lights and Strobe Lights are OFF on deck after you trap when it's dark.
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Re: Aircraft lights

Post by Hedgehog » Fri Jan 13, 2023 10:05 am

I don't know the source of this document, but it seems to define the real-world external lights requirements for naval aircraft for those interested.

That said, our squadron protocol will remain; use whatever external lights you want, with the following limitations:

1. Only Formations Lights allowed on deck after a trap.
Why?: External lights make it very difficult for other pilots on recovery to see the line-up light and IFLOLS.

2. NEVER landing/taxi light on or around the carrier deck.
Why? Blinds everyone.

3. External lights as directed by Flight Leader in flight.
Why? At 'Fence In', all lights external lights should be off except Formation Lights to make your jet harder to see by enemy threats like MANPADS. (Whether or not such visibility is actually modelled in the sim remains a matter of conjecture.)

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Personally, and in contrast to the guidance in the document, I prefer to see strobe lights on on the carrier deck before launch. Within the limitations of the sim environment (i.e. no actual Air Boss or plane marshallers), it makes it easy to see, 'this jet is occupied and engines running, and could move at any time.' But we're not going to make this a requirement.
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