Warning Lights are fitted on Aircraft too
The purpose of this article is to highlight the uses of warning lights. This article will extensively deal with aircraft warning lights, the different types that are used today as well as how they work.
The purpose of aircraft warning lights is to avoid collisions, which are often fatal. It is a universal practice to mount these lights on tall structure in order for passing aircrafts to easily spot them. They should also be bright enough to be seen from very far as this is important for the safety of the crew and the passengers aboard the aircraft. They can normally be seen from miles above and are red in color, which is conspicuous and easy to spot. They are also placed on broadcast masts and towers, tall buildings, chimneys, cranes, wind turbines and water tanks that are on highly elevated areas.
There are also different types of aircraft warning lights, although there are two major ones. These are red lamps that are steadily burning as well as ones that switch on and off alternately at a few second intervals. The second type is xenon discharge flashers. Red lights are preferably used at night and the xenon discharge flashers during the day. The United States (US) and Canada have set the standard for aircraft emergency lighting and use diverse lighting for aircrafts. These are; obstruction lights- which burn constantly, red beacons, high intensity white strobe lights and medium intensity white strobe lights.
LED lights are now used as replacement for incandescent filament bulbs for aircraft warning lights. LED lights are considerably brighter and last a much longer time. This save cost in terms of money that could be used to replace the lights. Most importantly valuable time that could mean a collision. Xenon flashers are good for aircraft emergency lighting although they require constant replacing. LED flashers have demonstrated to be more useful as they are much brighter and have a much longer life than the xenon or white strobe flashers
There is also the relatively new concept of dual lighting. This is where the structure is installed with both white strobes (for day time use) and red beacons or strobe lights (for nighttime use). This innovation has been monumental in two major ways. One is it has largely cut the cost of setting separate structures for both day and night. It has also reduced the number of objects that are found near the runway. Anti – aircraft collision warning lights are also used on the outside of the aircraft itself. Aircrafts have different kind of warning lights placed on them, the most important being landing lights, and wingtip lights. Land lights are used mainly during the approach to landing or during landing. Wingtips visually indicate the position of the aircraft. Right wingtips almost always use a green light and the left a red wingtip.
warning lights are a major part of aircraft lighting and have greatly reduced the rate of airplane accidents. They are a necessity on all aircrafts. LED lights are the newest and best generation of aircraft warning lights, and should be made mandatory for all airports and aircraft to ensure maximum effectiveness of warning lights. Newer innovations should also be formulated to even further reduce the number of collisions of aircrafts.
Extreme Tactical Dynamics is a one-stop shop for
warning lights and many other items like Flashlights, Dash Lights, Deck Lights, etc. Please visit the site for more details of various items available – http://www.extremetacticaldynamics.com/