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How to Aim Landing Lights

L

lr172

Well Known Member
I would like to get my landing light aimed as close as I can while building. I am building a 6A have have the duckworks lights. The instructions indicate aiming the lights straight ahead (light pattern on wall level with wing while plane is level.

I assume that I will be in a somewhat nose up attitude on Final plus I assume that I will still want a bit of down angle on the lights so that they illuminate the runway and not the air in front of me.

Does anyone have some guidance on aim the lights.

Thanks,

Larry
 
man mine were aimed so poorly when i bought my 6a, my night t and gs might as well had no landing light. my advice would be, if in doubt, aim low. after all, you want to see the ground. after i adjusted mine it was such a big difference. don't aim them straight out- you are going to be higher aoa especially in the flare.
 
On my -9, which is tail dragger, my left light is aimed straight out with the tail down. The right light is aimed straight out in the direction of flight. (Works great for shinning squirrels when the tail is down.)

I know you don't have a tail dragger but the combination works great on final. (After I land, I turn off the right light and just use the left one)
 
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There is an official procedure/document out there. I did this for a new business jet a few years ago. It was based on the aircraft being a certain altitude on the landing approach, and then a certain distance the lights should hit down the runway. Then using your typical approach angle of attack you aim the light accordingly. This was more of a procedure for initial design since it was a new airplane. I could probably dig up the document if you are interested.
 
Thanks for the replies here. If someone could tell me the typical nose up angle on final in degrees, I could do the math to figure out the best down angle for the light, assuming a 3* glide slope angle. Does anyone have a general number for this angle?

Larry
 
Sorry Larry I don't have an A model or the degrees of angle on the approach.
However after a night landing last night my mind is still fresh on my lighting angles.
As other have said you will want the pilot side pointing down to see the taxiway during ground operations. The opposite side will need to be almost straight out. The plane tends to point at the runway during landing.
Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the guidance here. I will set them up for straight ahead this sounds like it will get me in the right neighborhood. Doesn't sound like the taxi light needs to be aimed much different so I'll set them a degree or two different and see which I like better.

Larry
 
lr172 said:
Thanks for the guidance here. I will set them up for straight ahead this sounds like it will get me in the right neighborhood. Doesn't sound like the taxi light needs to be aimed much different so I'll set them a degree or two different and see which I like better.

Larry
Click to expand...

Think about aiming one down like us TD guys have. This seems to give a really good spread on final, which is why I mentioned my set up.
 
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