Strobes ...
A couple of times in the last few weeks, we've been waiting in turn at the holding point behind a Boeing aircraft. On receipt of a line-up clearance ("Behind the landing aircraft at 3 miles"), and with the runway guard lights still up, the pilots of the aircraft put their strobes on. It was over a minute until they entered the runway.
On both occasions, the pilots were quietly challenged about this. On one occasion, they switched the strobes off. On the other occasion, they said, "SOPs....".
Has a new SOP been introduced somewhere that on receipt of a line-up clearance (not on entering the runway) strobes should be switched on? And if so, isn't it reasonable to say that part of the "line-up" clearance is actually the holding point guard lights changing - so that the "line-up" clearance isn't actually in force until the lights give permission to line up as well? Saying this wistfully - sitting behind an aircraft with strobes on for a minute is not great for night vision. And I can't really see what safety function this would be achieving.