I expect he refers to the LED variety. DG had them as a feature for the mini-Spitfire that they manufactured for a little while. Claimed to have very low power draw.
In general, lights only provide additional safety if they are brighter than the ambient conditions around them. Since the brightness of a blue sky day is well known (except by me right now), it makes it relatively easy to work out that lights during the day time have a very limited range. The brighter the light, the greater the effective range. You still have to be looking outside to see them. I reckon that most people are still head down in the cockpit right before that crunching noise makes them look up. What isn't well known is that lights were trialled as camouflage during WW2 by the RAF Coastal Command (OK they weren't strobes, but it is interesting aviation history). They were keen to make their bombers (Sunderlands, Catalinas, Liberators etc) less visible at long range to eagle eyed sentries on U-boats running on the surface. The trial consisted of lights under the wings and fuselage of a bomber in order to make it the same luminosity of the background sky (making the black speck in the distance effectively invisible to the U-boat). It was thought that by doing this, the bombers could get closer before the U-boat crash dived. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ben Jones Sent: Tuesday, 18 March 2008 9:46 PM To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Keeping Visible Most Strobes in GA aircraft, require a fair wack of power, during the day all they do is keep the pilot awake with annoying pings and zips in your headset speakers. IIRC the battery operated ones use Xenon? Globes, but as always I could be wrong.......... Flight trials may provide answers to see if they increase visibility. Regards Ben ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott Penrose" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia." <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 7:50 PM Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Keeping Visible > New technology has allowed us to build battery run flashing light > (damn can't remember what they are called) - like those found on light > aircraft. I believe in the past we were limited by power. > > I wonder if they would provide extra safety. > > Scott > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > To check or change subscription details, visit: > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
