Beacon help

[ROllerton]

The user titles are assigned by the system based on how many posts you have made. and you can override them with what every you want to put there for yourself; just click my profile to change.

Although I dont think Norm will ever change his!

[stormman]

Bob is my Beacon

Your SOOOO right Bob

[bashibazouk]

Re: Beacon help

A beacon is planned to magically appear on the plane next week, and will have seemed to have always been there!

So I'd like to have the ability to depart before Civil Daylight and arrive after Civil Twilight in my non-generator equipped BL-65. I've done a little research into beacons, but can't decide what to choose and where to put it.

I know this is an old thread, but has anyone done a modern beacon installation? Anybody using the newer LED beacons? They seem to offer the best option in terms of battery life, but golly! They're expensive!!

Any thoughts on a good donor unit for a Taylorcraft? I found a Bonanza rotating beacon, but the thing is huge and I'm not sure where it would go.

For what it's worth, I've got Grimes "A" teardrop lights on the wings and tail, so I really don't want to mess with the modern units with integrated strobes, power supplies, etc.

Thanks,

Josh

[Mark Julicher]

Re: Beacon help

Josh,
The beacon on my F-19 is just a red 12 V bulb with an automotive type flasher. Dirt simple.

[jim cooper]

Re: Beacon help

If one goes to antique aircraft.com they can see, scrolling down a landing that proved exciting for both the owners of a stinson 108 and a piper cherokee! Would a beacon or strobes have helped? Probably. To me, asking if one should have nav. lights or better yet a beacon ,or even a STROBE on ANY airplane especially at night is a bit disconcerting. OF COURSE you should! Thats why big airplanes have them. Thats why modern airplanes USUALLY have them on in the DAY TIME.







1. Several times in day light I have spotted a Mooney, A Maule, 2 A-10s,(flying underneath me) quite close, in the case of the Mooney I quickly dove to be sure he missed me. They all had strobes. It was DAYLIGHT. I do not fly singles at night but I AM going to put strobes on the wings of my BC12D if I can use the present teardrop nav lights which are prewired, along with a rechargeable battery. I also ALWAYS address the airport I'm landing or taking off from in clear, slowly spoken english instead of 1. being real dumb and not announcing myself at all, or 2. Speaking quickly and as a result not being understood, (trying to mimick an "old pro airline pilot.") The latter is really dangerous and stupid as the listener knows your nearby and are a definate threat but isn't quite sure where your dumb ass is! Another favorite is to announce the runway you plan to use but not the airport! Real bright! jc

[bashibazouk]

Re: Beacon help

Josh,
The beacon on my F-19 is just a red 12 V bulb with an automotive type flasher. Dirt simple.

Really?! That's easy enough. Has anyone (wearing a polyester tie) ever asked you about it? Where is it mounted?

Thanks,
Josh

[Mark Julicher]

Re: Beacon help

Josh,

It is clunky looking. Mounted on the top of the vertical stabilizer. It probably does not meet directional coverage standards for a plane certified more recently.

But it works. It is a real aircraft part put on in 1977, probably sold by a guy in a cheap shiny suit

[bashibazouk]

SA (was Re: Beacon Help)

If one goes to antique aircraft.com they can see, scrolling down a landing that proved exciting for both the owners of a stinson 108 and a piper cherokee! Would a beacon or strobes have helped? Probably. To me, asking if one should have nav. lights or better yet a beacon ,or even a STROBE on ANY airplane especially at night is a bit disconcerting. OF COURSE you should! Thats why big airplanes have them. Thats why modern airplanes USUALLY have them on in the DAY TIME.

1. Several times in day light I have spotted a Mooney, A Maule, 2 A-10s,(flying underneath me) quite close, in the case of the Mooney I quickly dove to be sure he missed me. They all had strobes. It was DAYLIGHT. I do not fly singles at night but I AM going to put strobes on the wings of my BC12D if I can use the present teardrop nav lights which are prewired, along with a rechargeable battery. I also ALWAYS address the airport I'm landing or taking off from in clear, slowly spoken english instead of 1. being real dumb and not announcing myself at all, or 2. Speaking quickly and as a result not being understood, (trying to mimick an "old pro airline pilot.") The latter is really dangerous and stupid as the listener knows your nearby and are a definate threat but isn't quite sure where your dumb ass is! Another favorite is to announce the runway you plan to use but not the airport! Real bright! jc

Jim-

I had to do a little searching, but here's the URL you were talking about, I think: http://www.antiqueairfield.com

I fully agree with you about using proper radio phraseology, and I'd add that it's STILL important to start and finish your transmission with the field you're using. It's also important to realize that lots of pilots are often using the same frequency so being clear, concise, and brief is important. Listening is also important. Trying to sound like John Wayne and throwing in lots of "at this time" and "any traffic in the area please advise" and making up pattern legs doesn't help much, either. WTF is a "45 to a downwind?" There is LEFT or RIGHT traffic. There is upwind, crosswind, downwind, base, and final. There are cardinal directions. Telling everyone you're on "a 45 to a downwind" to an unnamed airport is no better than no transmission at all. How about "KXYZ traffic, Taylorcraft 12345 is 2 miles south for left traffic for runway xx at KXYZ?" If you join that downwind at a 45 degree angle, good for you! You've done it properly and that's assumed. There's a script and it's not that hard to follow. It's right there in the AIM. Good stuff. Whew! You touched a nerve there.

Looking at the picture of the Piper humping the Stinson though looks more like the classic high wing vs. low wing matchup. Who was at fault? I wasn't there so I couldn't say. Would a beacon on the bottom (or top) of the Stinson have helped? Really? I could be wrong. I've been wrong before, but I'm not sure a flashing red light would have been much easier to see than a giant purple (sorry, maroon!) airplane.

Personally I take the same approach to flying the Taylorcraft that I do to riding my motorcycle: every idiot out there can and will kill me, so I'd better be careful. Head on a swivel. I'm slower and lower than most of the traffic that I fly around, but I still look ahead and below and listen to the appropriate frequency. I never assume that I have the right of way even if I should. I see lots of bikers riding with reflective vests and headlight modulators. That's fine, but I choose not to do that.

I typically fly the Taylorcraft in a quiet corner of Eastern North Carolina that does not have a whole lot of traffic. Eight RJ's and Dash-8s a day, a fair number of IRs and VRs going to and from Jacksonville, NC and Seymour Johnson, a mix of charter, corporate, and training traffic, etc.

A sense of situational awareness and a knowledge of the environment in which I'm operating is far more valuable than hoping that a set of flashing lights will save me from being oblivious and obliterated.

All modern airplanes have strobes and beacons because they have been mandated to be so equipped by the FAA. I must have missed the huge rash of mid-airs that occurred at night with antique airplanes without flashing beacons, but that's the mandate with which I am trying to comply.

Josh Brehm

[DanBrown]

Re: Beacon help

Nothing helps if it is not turned on. Or position announcements are incorrect. Even at a tower controlled field. My closest call yet was at Teterboro on a crystal clear winter night returning from a weekend skiing at Killington. I was flying a C-210, cleared for a straight in and just reported a 2 mile final when the lights ahead didn't appear right. I moved left and a passed a black shadow 50 feet to my right at the same altitude -- a C-150 with no lights who had just reported on downwind!

Nowdays I fly my non-electrical T-Craft under LSA rules -- so night flying is out. I do have a portable transponder -- even though not required for non-electrical ships in the mode C veil. Too many pilots assume that if they are on an IFR approach or departure in VFR conditions, they don't need to look away from the panel.

[bashibazouk]

Re: Beacon help

Josh,

It is clunky looking. Mounted on the top of the vertical stabilizer. It probably does not meet directional coverage standards for a plane certified more recently.

But it works. It is a real aircraft part put on in 1977, probably sold by a guy in a cheap shiny suit

Any idea on what it was originally installed? OEM Taylorcraft part?

Thanks,

Josh

[Forrest Barber]

Re: Beacon help

The original F-19 Beacon was on the tailpost , a big chunky thing with an automotive bulb , coverage masking was with black plastic tape , I flew the test flights and watched it being signed off. REmeber we used automotive alternators and regulators too l BUT when they went out the door they were a "certfied" Taylorcraft part number. Check your parts and price listings.

[Carrieve]

Re: Beacon help

I installed strobes with my position lights when I recovered my Tcraft. Aero Flash had a STC for that. Does this qualify as proper lighting? I know I won't be able to see anything on the ground. Maybe I can hold one of those nice led flashlights out the window.

[lfries]

Re: Beacon help

I beleive a landing light is required for commercial work.

[jim cooper]

Re: Beacon help

The BC12D I fly, completely rebuilt 2006-2008 was involved in a fatal accident in a landing pattern in collins, N.Y. in 1977. The pilot of the other aircraft was killed. The T-craft made it into an ajoining field, pilot lived. I really like wing tip strobes and if any of you have converted the teardrop type wing nav. lights to strobes please let me know!(with recharge battery) There must be a way that looks decent. T-Crafts, Cubs, etc. usually did NOT fly at night and still dont. Originally they were PRIMARY trainers, flown to aquaint the beginners with the rudiments of flight. Older pilots I've spoken to told me that they never flew at night unless very close to the end of a trip. (as in dusk.) I was taught to fly the pattern quickly, use consise english, carefully spoken, stating the facts quickly BUT clearly, and always be able to make the runway from anywhere in the pattern, power off. Many times you'll see someone WAYYYY out on final, as thought they were flying a 737, on a long final. Dangerous to them and to anyone flying correctly. Some times I do it wrong, but try to follow the old rules.JC

[Frank DeBartolo]

Re: Beacon help

My understanding is that with nav lights only, we are allowed to fly after sunset, but not after civil twilight (whatever that is(dark?)).

Basically Nav lights give you an extra 45 minutes of flight time for the prettiest part of the day. Anticollision (beacon) is required to fly after civil twilight (dark).
__________________
This was on an earlier post. For those pilots who fly under LSA rules, this can mean some really nice flying and as I understand it, all you need are position lights.

Frank D
N43684