re: [Flightgear-devel] Aircraft lights: navigation lights and beacon
Dave Perry writes: The lights look great! Thanks. The rear facing white light on the rudder is switched on with the red and green wing tip lights as the nav lights. Is there a RearNavLightOn and RearNav LightOFF object name? I haven't got around to adding the rear light yet. All the best, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] Aircraft lights: navigation lights and beacon
Curtis L. Olson writes: I don't know where the navigation lights are powered from in real life. I'm guessing maybe this is the same thing as the beacon (?) I don't see a specific reference to navigation lights power in the C172 electrical diagram. Here's a quick overview of the external lights in a 172: navigation lights: A red light on the left wing tip and green light on the right wingtip, visible from the front and (relevant) sides, and a white light pointing backwards from the tail. Required for night flight. beacon: Big flashing/rotating red light extending above the vertical tail and visible from every direction. Optional for night flight, and not on every aircraft, but pretty commonly used. Note: at our flying club, the policy is always to leave the beacon switched on; that way, you can tell from a distance if someone's forgotten to turn off the masters after shutting down the plane. strobes: Flashing lights on the wingtips (and other places for bigger planes). Optional for night flight, and not on every aircraft. Note: pilots usually turn the strobes off on the ground or in cloud or fog, for obvious reasons. landing light: Bright spotlight in the nose or left wing, aimed a bit forward of the plane. Required for night flight with passengers, optional otherwise (I've already done practice landings without it). Note: pilots often leave the landing light on continuously night and day for visibility, except when taxiing facing a plane making an approach (to avoid confusing the pilot). taxi light: Bright light usually located right beside the landing light on the nose or left wing. Optional for night flight, and not on every aircraft. There is a separate switch for each of these on the control panel. All the best, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] Aircraft lights: navigation lights and beacon
David, I'm not disagreeing with you, but in the electrical system diagram in the C172S Information Manual I can't find any mention of where the navigation lights are fed. Perhaps I'm misreading something? The manual does describe the navigation lights as part of the exterior lighting system consisting of lights on the wing tips and on top of the rudder. Later it says that the lights are all controlled by breakers/switches on the lower left instrument panel. So I'm probably miss reading something in the diagram. I assume you have a similar C172 manual ... perhaps you could find where the navigation lights are powered from on your model and we could work from that. Thanks, Curt. David Megginson writes: Here's a quick overview of the external lights in a 172: navigation lights: A red light on the left wing tip and green light on the right wingtip, visible from the front and (relevant) sides, and a white light pointing backwards from the tail. Required for night flight. beacon: Big flashing/rotating red light extending above the vertical tail and visible from every direction. Optional for night flight, and not on every aircraft, but pretty commonly used. Note: at our flying club, the policy is always to leave the beacon switched on; that way, you can tell from a distance if someone's forgotten to turn off the masters after shutting down the plane. strobes: Flashing lights on the wingtips (and other places for bigger planes). Optional for night flight, and not on every aircraft. Note: pilots usually turn the strobes off on the ground or in cloud or fog, for obvious reasons. landing light: Bright spotlight in the nose or left wing, aimed a bit forward of the plane. Required for night flight with passengers, optional otherwise (I've already done practice landings without it). Note: pilots often leave the landing light on continuously night and day for visibility, except when taxiing facing a plane making an approach (to avoid confusing the pilot). taxi light: Bright light usually located right beside the landing light on the nose or left wing. Optional for night flight, and not on every aircraft. There is a separate switch for each of these on the control panel. David -- Curtis Olson IVLab / HumanFIRST Program FlightGear Project Twin Cities[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota http://www.menet.umn.edu/~curt http://www.flightgear.org ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] Aircraft lights: navigation lights and beacon
Curtis L. Olson wrote: David, I'm not disagreeing with you, but in the electrical system diagram in the C172S Information Manual I can't find any mention of where the navigation lights are fed. Perhaps I'm misreading something? The manual does describe the navigation lights as part of the exterior lighting system consisting of lights on the wing tips and on top of the rudder. Later it says that the lights are all controlled by breakers/switches on the lower left instrument panel. So I'm probably miss reading something in the diagram. I assume you have a similar C172 manual ... perhaps you could find where the navigation lights are powered from on your model and we could work from that. Thanks, Curt. David Megginson writes: Here's a quick overview of the external lights in a 172: navigation lights: A red light on the left wing tip and green light on the right wingtip, visible from the front and (relevant) sides, and a white light pointing backwards from the tail. Required for night flight. beacon: Big flashing/rotating red light extending above the vertical tail and visible from every direction. Optional for night flight, and not on every aircraft, but pretty commonly used. Note: at our flying club, the policy is always to leave the beacon switched on; that way, you can tell from a distance if someone's forgotten to turn off the masters after shutting down the plane. strobes: Flashing lights on the wingtips (and other places for bigger planes). Optional for night flight, and not on every aircraft. Note: pilots usually turn the strobes off on the ground or in cloud or fog, for obvious reasons. landing light: Bright spotlight in the nose or left wing, aimed a bit forward of the plane. Required for night flight with passengers, optional otherwise (I've already done practice landings without it). Note: pilots often leave the landing light on continuously night and day for visibility, except when taxiing facing a plane making an approach (to avoid confusing the pilot). taxi light: Bright light usually located right beside the landing light on the nose or left wing. Optional for night flight, and not on every aircraft. There is a separate switch for each of these on the control panel. David Hello, Checked a manual (and cockpit) of a C172N, so expect some differences. Below the left yoke on the panel are 2 rows of push-reset thermal breakers. At the right end of the bottom row are 3 white rocker switches. The last 6 items at the right end of bottom row are: 1. Beacon breaker. 2. Nav. lights breaker. 3. Pitot heater breaker. 4. Pitot heater switch. 5. Nav light switch. 6. Beacon switch. The Nav light breaker is 10 Amp. rating. They have several of the 172N at the local flight school. -- Bill Earnest wde3@ptd-dot-net Linux Powered Allentown, PA, USA Computers, like air conditioners, work poorly with Windows open. ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] Aircraft lights: navigation lights and beacon
Bill, Is there anything in theh electrical diagram that shows how they are fed (i.e. from what bus) Curt. William Earnest writes: Curtis L. Olson wrote: David, I'm not disagreeing with you, but in the electrical system diagram in the C172S Information Manual I can't find any mention of where the navigation lights are fed. Perhaps I'm misreading something? The manual does describe the navigation lights as part of the exterior lighting system consisting of lights on the wing tips and on top of the rudder. Later it says that the lights are all controlled by breakers/switches on the lower left instrument panel. So I'm probably miss reading something in the diagram. I assume you have a similar C172 manual ... perhaps you could find where the navigation lights are powered from on your model and we could work from that. Thanks, Curt. David Megginson writes: Here's a quick overview of the external lights in a 172: navigation lights: A red light on the left wing tip and green light on the right wingtip, visible from the front and (relevant) sides, and a white light pointing backwards from the tail. Required for night flight. beacon: Big flashing/rotating red light extending above the vertical tail and visible from every direction. Optional for night flight, and not on every aircraft, but pretty commonly used. Note: at our flying club, the policy is always to leave the beacon switched on; that way, you can tell from a distance if someone's forgotten to turn off the masters after shutting down the plane. strobes: Flashing lights on the wingtips (and other places for bigger planes). Optional for night flight, and not on every aircraft. Note: pilots usually turn the strobes off on the ground or in cloud or fog, for obvious reasons. landing light: Bright spotlight in the nose or left wing, aimed a bit forward of the plane. Required for night flight with passengers, optional otherwise (I've already done practice landings without it). Note: pilots often leave the landing light on continuously night and day for visibility, except when taxiing facing a plane making an approach (to avoid confusing the pilot). taxi light: Bright light usually located right beside the landing light on the nose or left wing. Optional for night flight, and not on every aircraft. There is a separate switch for each of these on the control panel. David Hello, Checked a manual (and cockpit) of a C172N, so expect some differences. Below the left yoke on the panel are 2 rows of push-reset thermal breakers. At the right end of the bottom row are 3 white rocker switches. The last 6 items at the right end of bottom row are: 1. Beacon breaker. 2. Nav. lights breaker. 3. Pitot heater breaker. 4. Pitot heater switch. 5. Nav light switch. 6. Beacon switch. The Nav light breaker is 10 Amp. rating. They have several of the 172N at the local flight school. -- Bill Earnest wde3@ptd-dot-net Linux Powered Allentown, PA, USA Computers, like air conditioners, work poorly with Windows open. ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel -- Curtis Olson IVLab / HumanFIRST Program FlightGear Project Twin Cities[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota http://www.menet.umn.edu/~curt http://www.flightgear.org ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] Aircraft lights: navigation lights and beacon
Curtis L. Olson writes: So I'm probably miss reading something in the diagram. I assume you have a similar C172 manual ... perhaps you could find where the navigation lights are powered from on your model and we could work from that. In the 1981 C172P, there is a circuit breaker off the primary bus labelled NAV LT that goes to the navigation lights, control wheel map light, and audio muting relay. Here's the complete list of breakers: Primary Bus --- AIR COND CIR FAN - to air conditioning system or circulation fan system ALT FIELD - to master switch FLAP - to wing flap system PITOT HEAT - to pitot heat system INST - to ignition switch - to oil temperature gauge - to low-voltage warning light - to fuel quantity indicators and carburetor air temperature gauge INT LT - to door post map light - to dome and courtesy lights - to instrument, radio, magnetic compass, and post post lighting NAV LT - to audio muting relay - to navigation lights and control wheel map light BCN LT - to flashing beacon [cigar lighter has a direct connection to the primary bus] LAND LT - to taxi and landing lights STROBE AVN FAN - to strobe lights - to avionics cooling fan TURN COORD - to turn coordinator Avionics Bus [connected to primary bus through avionics master switch] RADIO 1 - to radio RADIO 2 - to radio RADIO 3 - to radio RADIO 4 - to radio or transponder and encoding altimeter RADIO 5 - to radio AUTO PILOT - to autopilot Note that many of the components, like the strobes, autopilot, and air conditioning, are optional extras. All the best, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] Aircraft lights: navigation lights and beacon
Curtis L. Olson writes: Looks good, does this tie into the electrical system model at all, or does it just respond to switch position ? So far, just the switch; I'll work on integrating it more fully later. All the best, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] Aircraft lights: navigation lights and beacon
David Megginson writes: Curtis L. Olson writes: Looks good, does this tie into the electrical system model at all, or does it just respond to switch position ? So far, just the switch; I'll work on integrating it more fully later. Should just be a matter of which property you point at (the switch value or the electrical system output ...) Curt. -- Curtis Olson IVLab / HumanFIRST Program FlightGear Project Twin Cities[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota http://www.menet.umn.edu/~curt http://www.flightgear.org ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] Aircraft lights: navigation lights and beacon
David Megginson writes: Curtis L. Olson writes: Looks good, does this tie into the electrical system model at all, or does it just respond to switch position ? So far, just the switch; I'll work on integrating it more fully later. Should just be a matter of which property you point at (the switch value or the electrical system output ...) Let me know where I should point it. Let's see, from the c172-electrical.xml I have: /systems/electrical/outputs/landing-light /systems/electrical/outputs/beacon /systems/electrical/outputs/strobe-lights /systems/electrical/outputs/taxi-lights I believe these all default to on, unless there is a switch some place that is explicitely turned off. Regards, Curt. -- Curtis Olson IVLab / HumanFIRST Program FlightGear Project Twin Cities[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota http://www.menet.umn.edu/~curt http://www.flightgear.org ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] Aircraft lights: navigation lights and beacon
Curtis L. Olson writes: Let's see, from the c172-electrical.xml I have: /systems/electrical/outputs/landing-light /systems/electrical/outputs/beacon /systems/electrical/outputs/strobe-lights /systems/electrical/outputs/taxi-lights You need to add the navigation lights (required by law at night), cabin lights, and (for some aircraft) panel lights, map light, and so on. There is a scary number of different permutations, even for a single C172 model -- for example, each separate gauge may or may not have its own internal light, depending on options chosen by the owner, replacements, etc. The VOR gauges seem the most likely to be separately lit. I believe these all default to on, unless there is a switch some place that is explicitely turned off. OK, then we need to wire these into the switches in the /controls/lights/* hierarchy. All the best, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] Aircraft lights: navigation lights and beacon
David Megginson writes: Curtis L. Olson writes: Let's see, from the c172-electrical.xml I have: /systems/electrical/outputs/landing-light /systems/electrical/outputs/beacon /systems/electrical/outputs/strobe-lights /systems/electrical/outputs/taxi-lights You need to add the navigation lights (required by law at night), cabin lights, and (for some aircraft) panel lights, map light, and so on. We also have: /systems/electrical/outputs/cabin-lights /systems/electrical/outputs/map-lights /systems/electrical/outputs/instrument-lights I don't know where the navigation lights are powered from in real life. I'm guessing maybe this is the same thing as the beacon (?) I don't see a specific reference to navigation lights power in the C172 electrical diagram. There is a scary number of different permutations, even for a single C172 model -- for example, each separate gauge may or may not have its own internal light, depending on options chosen by the owner, replacements, etc. The VOR gauges seem the most likely to be separately lit. Yup, even a C172 can get fairly complex. Curt. -- Curtis Olson IVLab / HumanFIRST Program FlightGear Project Twin Cities[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota http://www.menet.umn.edu/~curt http://www.flightgear.org ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
