Taxying

[peb]

Is it a 'legal' requirement to have Taxi lights on when moving on taxiways? Or is it 'as deemed necessary' or local airfield requirements?

And which lights are used if the aircraft does not have a Taxi light eg British Airways 747? Do they use Turnoff lights or even a pair of Landing lights (but I thought these would be too bright)?

Thank you

[Britjet]

No requirement as far as I know.
BA use(d) outboard Landing lights for Taxi - the reason being apparently that it's easier to change the bulbs on the outboards if they blow..
Brightness-wise there is a definite hazard of course with any of the lights if looked at directly - in fact it is forbidden (in BA) to attract ground crew's attention in the good old-fashioned way by flashing them. You have to call operations, who will call the ground staff, who will then do what is needed. Nothing happens quickly, as you can imagine..;-)
Peter

[peb]

Thanks Peter. Do the runway turnoff lights get used very often or is it just in darkness at dark airports?

Is the use of Landing lights a legal requirement? I assumed it was but we live under a flightpath for Man airport and we do quite regularly see landing aircraft with no landing lights on.

[Britjet]

Turn offs didn't get much use, as I remember..
In the US there are certainly guidelines (are they rules?) about the use of Landing lights on active runways when cleared to take-off, but I'm afraid I may be a bit out of date on where it stands now. Hopefully done it the US guys can chip in on this one..
Peter.

[skelsey]

Is the use of Landing lights a legal requirement? I assumed it was but we live under a flightpath for Man airport and we do quite regularly see landing aircraft with no landing lights on.

No legal requirements in the UK/EASA at least around landing lights. On types with retractable landing lights (e.g. A320 series) the recent-ish trend seems to be to encourage crews to turn them off (and thus retract them and slightly reduce drag and hence fuel burn) as soon as flap retraction is complete. Whether this is necessarily wise in a busy TMA is another question!

As Peter says, I think the US has something more prescriptive but I couldn't say for certain!

[andmiz]

We use landing lights whenever 10,000ft (a common regulatory requirement around the world), and all landing lights, runway turnoff lights and taxi lights when on the runway.

During the day we will taxi with runway turnoff, and where fitted, taxi lights on.
At night, we will supplement this with the inboard landing lights.

[ScudRunner]

Qantas standard taxi ops is for taxi, rwy turn-off and wing lights on for taxi (day or night).

[IefCooreman]

Landing lights are BRIGHT. No legal requirements, we even put them off when being marshalled by a car as the bright light appears to be really annoying in the car mirrors. When holding at the threshold with landing traffic coming in, we put the landing light off as well. Yes, it's really annoying for landing traffic at night.

Brightness-wise there is a definite hazard of course with any of the lights if looked at directly - in fact it is forbidden (in BA) to attract ground crew's attention in the good old-fashioned way by flashing them. You have to call operations, who will call the ground staff, who will then do what is needed. Nothing happens quickly, as you can imagine..;-)
Peter

As an ACMI provider, we just put the delay on ground crew :-(. Except if we need a crew bus. Then we will flash any bus that passes in front. ANY.

[emerydc8]

Landing lights are BRIGHT. No legal requirements, we even put them off when being marshalled by a car as the bright light appears to be really annoying in the car mirrors. When holding at the threshold with landing traffic coming in, we put the landing light off as well. Yes, it's really annoying for landing traffic at night.

+1.

Use of landing lights at an inappropriate time is one of the easiest ways to determine a captain's experience level. Our manual says to turn on all the lights when taking the runway. If there's an aircraft sitting on the other side waiting to take off, I would never shine any lights in his face -- not the taxi lights, the landing lights or the turnoff lights. But there are guys who just can't think outside the manual and they do it anyway, whether out of ignorance or just not having the common sense to deviate from the manual when appropriate. Also, the guys who leave the landing lights on when holding in position on the runway just don't get it. If they are clearing traffic across that runway downfield, there will be some doubt in that pilot's mind that the holding traffic is not on the takeoff roll with landing lights on.

I leave the landing lights off (and sometimes the strobes) when shooting an ILS to minimums, because they will interfere with your ability to pick up the approach lights and runway. I've done it both ways and I am certain you will pick up the approach lights and runway sooner with the lights off. In the clouds at night the lights serve no purpose except to distract you. If the controller doesn't like it, that's his problem. They're not there for him and if it ever got to a hearing, I'm confident that I could successfully argue my position.

[peb]

Thankyou all for your detailed answers. Good to learn all this stuff in case I'm ever asked to fly a 747 😲