Lighting question (strobe power)
 

This may be something Genghis knows, but anyone feel free to contribute.
I am experimenting with some lighting for a farmstrip at night. There is no mains, so the sytem will be battery and solar driven. One of the components will be a white strobe for identifying the field at a distance. This will automatically cut when on final approach, so change in accomodation and retinal sensitivity should not be a problem (hopefully).
Xenon strobes seem to be available from 2 joules to 10 joules. We would like to be able to spot the field from a couple of miles. Would 2 joules be adequate? I know it depends on other stuff like surrounding lighting, but a ball park idea would be helpful. What is the power of a wingtip strobe for comparison?

Sorry this is not an answer to your question but how are you going to get it to cut automatically?

I don't have an answer to your question about which strobe to use.

However, I am also interested in setting up something to find my home strip.


Where have you seen the strobes? I would be interested to find out more.

The strobe will be triggered by using the radio. Following a mike key, the strobe will fire for 30-60 seconds. If you loose sight of the field, key the mike again.
I guess the lights do not cut on final, just the 30 seconds time out.
There are lots of strobe units available, and selecting a good one out of the many I have found is the last job, everything else is pretty much ready to go.
Here are a small selection :
http://www.klaxonsignals.com/weatherproof_beacons.htm
Radio triggering gear is available from the U.S. but costs A LOT and switches mains (which we don`t have).
I have designed all the stuff from scratch to run without mains.....:cool:

Are you planning to trigger this using an aviation band frequency? If so, are you sure that's legal?

Tim

If a field does not have an allocated frequency, then Safetycom is useable for making a blind calls for traffic information.
I think that having a radio receiver tuned to a frequency is legal. Others have previously said that you can listen but not act on the information, others have said listening is illegal. However, nobody would be listening. Just having a ground radio tuned to a frequency.

Thinking out of the box, ... flying to an unlit/ unmanned strip at night, reliant for navigation, identification and let down on a radio triggered strobe light, possibly with no runway lighting and probably grass. Boy, you fixed wing guys have balls!


Good Christmas to all!

h-r :)

Depends how you look at it. The strip will only be used upto 90mins hours after sunset, in good VMC only, and if any part of the system fails, then we have 2 international airports in within a sensible taxi ride.

we have radio activated lights at our place. We use the GPS and map to get there, the lights come on and we land. A strobe is a little overkill I think.

Our lights are garden lights 10 down each side of the strip.

A strobe at night would be easiliy visible, the darker it is the easier it would be to see. Think of the airliner going overhead which you can see for miles.

So my answer would be not very bright at all would be OK, (I don't know about Joules)

The only thing that would maybe spoil it would be light pollution where other lights would make it seem less significant.

You've got to be kidding me! I have no idea of the legality of such a venture, though I can hazard guess, but using garden lights!!!!

Do they conform to ICAO standards? What is the lighting layout? Are your lights on a discrete and paid for frequency for remote operation?

Seriously, has everyone had a bit too much sherry trifle? Or am I just too cautious and think you're crazy because I'm a wuss?

I personally would never use any home-made system in what is a pretty critical phase of flight. There are just too many variables that could lead to a disaster. I certainly wouldn't put myself in a situation that I feel would be "dodgy" to say the least.

Edit to add: I am aware of what some people will do to save a few quid on landing fees and a bit of inconvienience, from landing on a totally unlit grass strip with nothing but a set of car head-lights pointing at an approximate touch down point, to some things I won't mention for fear of some one daft enough trying to replicate them and ending up as the lead article in GASIL a few months later (as well as an entry in the Darwin awards).
So I'm not just being obsequious, jst hopefully giving you some food for thought.

Are you intending to have runway lights? If so, then a strobe becomes of secondary inportance since you invariably see them first rather than any strobe/beacon.

I don't know SAS. There are alot dafter things going on out there.

I believe that there is one field where they land after dark with the aid of the local prison lights.

As per say i don't think thier should be a problem if its a unlicensed strip and its only the owners which operate into it at night. If the owners gave permission to someone else to use it you could get problems if anything happens.

People have been landing at night for years and still do with the aid of flares, fires and even a lines of people with torches.

The old halifax pilot i did some retraining with for his NPPL said that it was normal only to have 2 lights one at the begining of the strip and one at the end. The object was not to land before the first one and stop before the second one. And no NGV goggles in them days.

The electronic listening out on a freqency I wouldn't think is a problem. I would use the gliders frequency as its legal for you as an aircraft to transmit on it (even though its a couple of clicks) and its is also allowed to listen to that freq without a license. And gliders shouldn't be airborn after dark so you shouldn't bother anyone.

MJ

And the accident rate for landing a/c at night during the war was.....?

Just because something is possible, doesn't make it sensible! In the event of an emergency then all the mentioned methods are acceptable, but to do it on a daily basis.
No thanks, even with well over 1000 night landings under my belt there are certain things I would rather not try. Poking the reaper with a big stick and running away being one of them.

Just because something costs 3 times more and has a stamp on it from some overly beauracratic agency doesn't mean that it is better.

Provided the lights come on and you can see the outline of the runway from a couple of miles away (very easy on a clear night) that is all that you need. If not, divert and go elsewhere.

SAS,
I`m not sure exactly what you are saying.....that night landings are analagous to poking the grim reaper with a sharp stick, and running away? Yet you have done it 1000 times!!!!

Is night landing on grass just what you think is crazy?

The strip would be lit using 3 independant systems, which are unlikely to simulataneously fail.

Combined battery powered strobe and retroflective systems have been approved for used by the FAA (and the CAA I think), and are used for landing heavy metal in the States.

Night landings themselves aren't dangerous, nor is landing on grass, or a combination of both.

BUT doing it with a "home-made" system that is not checked or approved, then I wouldn't go near it with 20 ft barge pole thank you very much.

It sounds like you do know what you are doing, but when you say there are 3 independant systems are they truly seperate? What happens if there is a power failure? Do you have battery or generator back-up? If so, how long will it take to kick in? What if you are in the flare at the time?
What are your maintenance schedules going to be like? Who's responsible for it. Will your insurance company find it acceptable?

There are a great many variables and potential pitfalls. Those are akin to poking the man with the sharp object, not the act of landing at night itself.

There is no external power to fail.

The strobe light is only for easy field identification at a distance and would be off for the landing.

The strip would have 14-18 separate edge lights with completely independant solar powered batteries.

The runway would be lit from 3 miles on final by retroflectors similar to those approved by the FAA / CAA, using the aircraft headlamp as source.

These items are all falable, just as anything we do is. As earlier mentioned. If any component that is required fails, then there are options available. Multiply independant systems is probably as good as could be hoped for, and much better than most of the other stuff in the aeroplane!!!

Care will clearly be needed.

Sounds as if you have thought about it long and hard.
Good luck and yes multiple systems like this are less fallible than one single source, but there are a number of problems, especially with solar powered lights, though having used them before they can often as good as the "real" thing.

Be careful, but you already know that.

I don't understand the fuss. Recgargeable batteries in those lights you hang off skips parked in the street work fine as far as I can see:E

Crumbs! Did I memtion I did this in a single engine as well..........

17 years and tens of thousands of landings our strip has used this system and no deaths or damage yet. If the runway lights did fail and sometimes we even simulate it we just use the landing light and land.

I sometimes think that people get way to reliant on technology, lights PAPI etc. There is no magic to landing at light! Line up with runway, set your descent rate, switch on the landing light and flare at the right time. Easy!

As far as approval is concerned, there is non required and who cares about ICAO standards, this is a private strip and if you cant land using the basic kit you are not welcome.

And with a thousand night landings under my belt I can assure you there is no drama about using it. In fact I am just in from the LAC flour bombing day after surviving another night landing.