XPDR and Strobe light Operation
Hi Everyone,
I can't help but notice that whenever I fly with a certain senior crew member, if we are given take off clearance/clearance to cross a runway, he puts the strobes on. Yes, that's SOP for when entering the runway but more often than not sometimes we are 200m/300m from the threshold/crossing point when he puts them on. Now I can't find it anywhere online that says this is good or bad practise but I get the feeling it is a bad practise to follow.
So what I'd like to know, is there anywhere official that says one shouldn't do this or is it just a rule of thumb to turn them on once on the Runway simply because it's annoying for other aircraft around us? I always used to think it was an indication to airborne aircraft that we are on the runway and not on a taxiway still.
The other thing is, I found that back at home the standard for crossing an active runway included switching the Transponder to TARA. Now here on the half of the planet, the standard is just to leave it on XPDR when crossing the runway.
So which is the correct method to follow?
Regards,
RC