Some airlines discourage the use of all forward-facing lights as the inconvenience and cost of filament replacement has been noticed by the beancounters, who don't risk their a*ses every day............
Some say don't use the nosewheel steering light as it gets hammered by the C/L lights on the runway when/if we can maintain the C/L and therefore requires more frequent replacement.......................
Myth has it that the weather radar repels our feathered friends, it doesn't as anyone who's observed the activities of birds near airfield radar installations can testify.....................
I have statistical evidence that the brighter the light(s), the lower the strike rate, this on a 'frame with taxi and landing lights behind perspex covers in the leading edges roughly mid wingspan...............
As everyday operating practice I use every forward-facing light, vis conditions permitting, despite the mutterings that "it's not SOP!"..............
Of course our backroom managers are more concerned with the cost and inconvenience of filament replacement than they are with the possibility of a hull loss, indicating the disconnect between modern airline leadership and the real world of everyday operations, as clearly enunciated in other fora in this site.
