Ultra bright lights

[SpringHeeledJack]

Earlier this evening I had my eye caught by a descending aircraft going into LHR that had the-most-bright landing lights, I'm not sure that I've ever seen such intensity! A quick squint at the plane finder app on the phone showed it to be one of the new Lufthansa A320NEO aircraft. Are they sporting LED wonder lights that might be the future of visual aids, or are they something else ?

[El Bunto]

Yes, LED externals are standard on the NEO and optional on the 'C'EO. I think they can also be retrofitted to some later-built in-service A320s.

Did you notice if the tip-lights still double-flash? I've heard rumours that they don't but I haven't caught a NEO at night yet. It'd be a shame if they didn't as that's an Airbus tradition all the way back to the A300.

Ah it seems they do, but with a slightly shorter interval:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM7pCjHhS0Y

[SpringHeeledJack]

To be honest when it was coming towards me directly, the light was SO vivid that I didn't really see the wingtip lights. It looked like LED light by it's colour temperature, but I thought it might be something else more technically advanced.

[El Bunto]

Dug around on the web a bit, the new A320 LEDs are made by Goodrich. Some interesting notes on power consumption and service-life here ( scroll down a bit past the introductory blah ):
https://www.lufthansa-technik.com/led-exterior-lighting

[LiamNCL]

Flew FUE-NCL last week on a TCX A321 and the LED strobes are extremely bright on the newer Airbus A32X aircraft especially with a seat in line with the wing

[Mr Mac]

All
787 Strobe lights are also notably brighter and almost richer in colour. I pointed it out to a BA 747 FO I know who said he also noted this. In fact the first time was when taking of from Phoenix and they were close to a Boeing 787 on an early test flight and both he and his captain commented on it. I have spent sometime on SQ 350,s recently and they also seem quite bright in comparison with some older A/C.


Regards
Mr Mac

[SpringHeeledJack]

Just in case there's any confusion my OP was referring to the lights located near the join of the wings into the fuselage. As to whether the strobes are super bright on the newer variants I'll know the next time I see one :-)