Phew, fair bit of thread drift ere, which I will continue by adding . . .the first company I remember introducing this justified it in the name of supposedly enhancing the awareness of catering truck drivers, and the likes, of the extremity of that big aluminium plank stuck on each side.
I could always see the point at night, but during the day ? If they couldn't see 50ft of wing, what chance a little "fairy light" in bright sunlight
In the meantime it seems to have been pretty widely adopted as a kind of "aircraft (& occupants
) alive" signal, in the same way as an anti-coll means engines running, or will be soon.
I wouldn't be surprised if a large part of it is merely that they don't trust us to remember to put them on when it gets dark though.
