Adjustable landing/taxi light

[Jch]

I would like to put an Aerosun LED light in the front cowl opening on an SS7. I could hook a cable up to it and with a push/pull change the angle for taxi/landing. I did some rough measurements and find the tail dragger configuration with standard wheels has 12 degree pitch up (longit. axis). A "flush" position of the light in the cowl opening has a natural 6 degree down angle. If I aimed the taxi light 20-30 feet in front of the plane I would need to adjust the beam an additional 10 degrees or more for taxi. How to aim the light for landing? Taking a 3-5 degree approach angle for landing, what would be the angle of the longitudinal axis during short final? during flare? If anybody has worked these numbers I could use some help. Has anyone made an adjustable light like this? Should I be concerned about blocking 90% of the cowl opening? I know others have put smaller fixed position lights in this location.

[Danzer1]

Jeff,

You are opening up a can of worms here. This has been hashed and rehashed on many forums. The answer is - it depends. On: what slope do you normally fly in at? power on or off? What do you want to see - the numbers? the landing spot? What do you want to see at flare? On and on.

So my primary thoughts are - I would use a separate light and angle for each taxi and landing (both fixed, but adjustable like auto headlights) - the last thing you need at night is fiddling with a cable to adjust the angle so you can see where your going, when you are supposed to be flying/landing the airplane. No need to add on more workload especially at night. What would you do if the cable or attach point fails or jams with a bird in there or who knows what else - you won't be able to change configurations, then what?

The other advantage of separate lights is, you could have them both on if approach is not optimal, covering a much wider and longer area.

The only way your really going to know is to do it and test them and adjust from there. As a basis, you are probably going to want to see further than 30 feet at taxi and your landing light will likely end up at a much different angle (down) than you initially think.

I don't know what engine you have in your 7, but I would be very hesitant to reduce the cowl intake at all if it serves any airflow/cooling purpose in your configuration.

Everyone will have a different answer though.

Greg

[SkyPirate]

I fly a 5 TD ,,contemplating putting lights in the nose of each wheel pant,..one for taxi/3 pt landing one for wheel landing, I think someone has done this already on the forum on a model 4,..I'm going to use LED

[n85ae]

I would say most people waste a LOT of time on lights, and end up with a
poor, solution. Here's what I did ... It works VERY well.

I still think my detachable light bar that goes between the float attach points
is the best solution. I have three big off road driving lights on it (6" dia.) all
at slightly different angles, plus dual wingtip lights.

I don't fly often at night, but when I do - I look like a 747 on final approach.
I have NEVER seen another small plane put as much light on the runway as
I do ever. Light reflected off the belly provides plenty of ground illumination
for landing flare as well.

The light bar is fed through a 40 amp relay, and a dedicated breaker.

Now some would think the big a** lights would create a lot of drag, and likely
they do, but I really don't notice (or care). Just two clevis pins and a quick
connect plug and the light bar is of the plane in less than a minute.

Regards,
Jeff Hays

[n85ae]

Here's a picture of the light bar when I was first putting it together, it is not
complete, but I think you can see how the idea works.

[DesertFox6]

Now, I might pay some good money to see a picture of that nuke-flash light rig of yours, Jeff, and I'll bet you could make even more bucks selling that picture to some off-road-wheelie-mud-mag editors!

How 'bout a snapshot? It's okay...we can all don sunglasses to look at it!

"E.T."
(I swear this is the most innovative builder site in the world!)

[DesertFox6]

Innovative and SPEEDY! You beat me by nine minutes, Jeff; THANK YOU!

"E.T."

[n85ae]

People laugh when I tell them, but when they see it on the plane they say
something like "Holy Crap! Those are some wicked landing lights!!!" (that's
the polite version actually).

I'll have to take my Nikon out some evening and crank them up and get
some pics.

[DesertFox6]

They oughta be a great anti-bug-windshield-splat deterrent too; the bugs are not only attracted to go BENEATH the fuselage, but they're flash-fried before hitting the lenses which are then ash-dusted and polished in the wind-stream! You thought of everything!

"E.T."
(I might hafta take up night flying again.)

[Av8r3400]

Do you carry an onboard generator or maybe an APU to run those things??

A revealing close up of N85AE's tail faring…