Landing lights

Landing light of a Cessna 172

Landing light of an Airbus A320

A landing light is a lighting device on aircraft . Landing lights can be designed as continuously shining light, and some aircraft also have the option of emitting pulsing light to avoid collisions, provided that runway illumination is not currently required (e.g. for landing approaches during the day). They are switched on during the approach and takeoff . Despite the strong intensity of the light, landing lights are only effective in close proximity to the ground in order to illuminate the runway from the pilot's point of view. For precise positioning of the aircraft on the approach path, other aids such as runway lights or radio-based approach aids such as the ILS are paramount. If there are no other headlights, such as special rolling headlights, they are also used for rolling at night. In addition to avoiding collisions with other aircraft, landing lights that are switched on during the day help to reduce the risk of collisions with birds .

Different incandescent lamps , halogen lamps or discharge lamps ( xenon light ) with or without an integrated reflector are used as light sources . The operating voltage is usually 28 volts. In light aircraft and 12 V are common. For Ultralight combinations with are anti-collision light (ACL short of English. Anticollision light ) known with LEDs work.

Some aircraft also have flare lights that shine downwards for better illumination of the runway during landing (e.g. De Havilland DHC-8 ). Larger aircraft are often equipped with “turnoff lights” for better lateral illumination of the taxiways.

Landing lights in stage technology

Landing light bulbs (incandescent lamps with integrated reflector) are also used in stage technology . The lamps are available in many different versions: PAR 16, 20, 30, 36, 38, 56 and 64, with 35 W up to 1000 W. These are usually connected to dimmers so that they can be used in lighting design via DMX . This combination of 8 PAR spotlights (8 × 28 V = 224 V for the 230 V mains voltage in Europe) is also often referred to as light fingers , which are very often found on stages of all kinds. Especially in the heavy metal festivals area, blue filters (CTB filters from Convert To Blue ) are often attached in front of the light fingers, which filter out the red component to make the light appear colder.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Various PAR halogen landing lights on the manufacturer's website Amglo-Kemlite , accessed on November 27, 2011.
2. ↑ HID xenon landing and taxiing lights from the manufacturer Goodrich  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 27, 2011.  
3. ↑ LED ACL + landing lights  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• youtube video of an approaching aircraft with pulsating landing lights (Pulselite)