I’ve seen several 170s that have the second landing/taxi light combo in the right wing. Can anyone help me out with information on this? I’ve never been able to find an stc for it, so I’m guessing they are all done on a field approval? If anyone has any supporting documentation they would like to share, I would sure appreciate it. I really want to ditch the Horton kit on mu straight tail 172 and replace it with the Sportsman kit. I feel like this would be the ideal time to add the second set of lights. Thanks!

Not 100% sure, but would probably be cheaper/easier to just add the Quasar tips from Stene. This would give great lighting on both sides, and you wouldn't have to chop up your leading edge...

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That RH light set-up would really throw out more light for landing or taxiing, but where it really "shines" is if you want to run wig-wag recognition lighting. I run a flashing LED light kn the left side only, which really does help, but a single "wig" cant compare with wig-wag.

I like the stock roundish wingtips, so for me RH leading edge lights would be preferable to the Qasar tips, but theyre a good option tok.

Del Lehman of Mountain Airframe in Mena AR has done this mod on C170s. Excellent work and highly recommended.

Seems like a minor alteration to me, using standard Cessna parts.
Might have to show that your electric system can handle the added load....which wouldnt be much, using LEDs.

If you're going to replace your leading edges with the Sportsman anyway, just do away with the landing light bucket on the stock wing, and go with the lights in the tips. By the time you count labor to build/install another landing light bucket, you may be about at parity to buy the tips, which you're probably going to do anyway.....

We put RMD tips on my 185 with Sportsman, and pulsed them alternately. ATC loved that airplane.

MTV

Another vote to cover up stock lights and add the RMD wing tip lights. I did a Sportsman Cuff where I cut around the wing landing/ taxi lights. Even with all the supplied parts, there is a bunch of hours just cutting the cuff around the lights, flush riveting doublers for cover, and making the new cover an lens look good. My second Sportsman, I removed the existing landing taxi lights and mounting hardware, and made a flush cover. Installation of the cuff was much less labor intensive, and as MTV said if you are considering cutting a hole in your right wing, you'd most likely be money ahead buying the RMD tips. You can even order your Sportsman cuff with RMD tips. A side note, you will need new tips regardless to match up with your new cuff. I've seen the Sportsman installed with old tips. You stop the cuff short of the tip and use block off plates at the wing tip end of cuff. I think the Sportsman looks much better with tips that have the Sportsman droop, and cover the end of the cuff.

If you fly in the dark, I'm not sure why one would ever want to cover over the existing landing taxi lights for any reason, regardless of tip lights. I guess its personal preference, but having installed a bunch of Sportsman cuffs, I see no real problem fitting the cuff around the stock light.

Couple of things to know:

RMD lights have provisions for ONLY one bulb in each side, so you either choose landing or taxi. For the best recognition, it is good to have the landing (narrow beam) and taxi (diffuse beam) next to each other. This gives a very good combination of light. LEDs are many factors brighter than stock GE bulbs for sure, but the new Quasar bulbs are about 1.3x brighter than the latest AeroLED bulbs you could put in a set of RMDs, so the light out of the Quasars is pretty insane.

Since RMD was sold, the quality has dropped off. They also will not fit camber lift wings w/ wingX and a sportsman REGARDLESS of what the manufacturer says. The butt rib Paul uses at WingX is different than the mold RMD has. I would not recommend...

The best light out there for the Cessna is hands down Willies Quasar. Yes, bring your checkbook, but well worth it if you are flying in the dark. Unlike the RMDs, the Quasars have BOTH a landing and a taxi lens as well as a solid state integrated pulse. The Quasars also integrate with legacy AeroLED bulbs, so you can sync them with bulbs in the stock location.

Finally, I have done a couple of R side landing/taxi installs. A bit of labor involved, but not that big of a deal. You can use stock Cessna parts by just flipping them upside down. (It's not just a log book entry...) FWIW, these were all done in addition to Quasar lighted tips. Superfluous, but pretty insane in the dark as well as for recognition.

Like MTV says, when you add up the stock Cessna parts, the labor, wiring, and the paperwork to make it legal, its cheaper to just do the Quasar tips.

FWIW... I have a new set of Quasars for a camberlift wing w/ a Sportsman here in my shop if anyone is interested. The wrong part was sent by mistake. I can sell them at a discount rather than ship them back to Stene. PM me if this can help.

I installed a set on the right wing of my 170 a few years ago. The difference in light when landing in the dark was amazing. I built the plane to sell it, so I didn't want the FA to be tied to LEDs, so I got it done with just plain old 4509 bulbs. It was still awesome to see the touchdown zone lit up like a ballpark on 1/2 mile final. From an anti collision standpoint, it was easy to see that old 170 coming from 10 miles out with a wig-wag controller.

If you're A&P is calling this a minor alteration, he's a lot ballsier than me.....That is an awful big hole to call minor. In addition, assuming you are using standard bulbs, you are adding around 9+ amps draw to the electrical system that must be accounted for in an electrical load analysis.

I've considered pursuing this as an STC, just to offer an alternative to the RMDs and now Willies offering. Maybe I'll call my engineer to discuss this again.

Good morning Tony. I was impressed with the quality of the tail cone access plates and the STC paper work that came with them. I would be one of your first customers if a right wing landing light kit with STC were available for my stock wing (no STOL kit) 180H. I to would prefer the 4509 bulbs. I know I could do a field approval as this increases safety but find it much easier to just send you the money. Have a good day.

Tim

bat443 wrote:Good morning Tony. I was impressed with the quality of the tail cone access plates and the STC paper work that came with them. I would be one of your first customers if a right wing landing light kit with STC were available for my stock wing (no STOL kit) 180H. I to would prefer the 4509 bulbs. I know I could do a field approval as this increases safety but find it much easier to just send you the money. Have a good day.

Tim

Thanks Tim! You'll be first in line if I pull the trigger on this project. I'm kind of itching for another one.

Another plus for the leading edge light vs. tips is you can keep your favorite tips. If you have some particular wingtip that you love, no need to change it for more lights.

If anyone is serious about wanting this mod, I can help w/ the DER paperwork for a 180/185 non-camber lift wing. PM me if interested.

Thank's for the offer Greg, I'll see how it goes for Tony and if he has no luck I'll let you know. Probably be a year, don't plan to do much night flying but the unlighted strip I am putting in at my house is a popular spot for deer and if I had to make a late evening landing extra lighting would be nice. Just don't care for the wing tip lights, so if that was the choice I would probably go without.

Tim

I'm wanting to install the Quasar wingtips, but haven't yet decided whether or not I want to go with a Sportsman kit. I assume I have to make that decision before I buy the wingtips, they're a different shape with/without Sportsman?

Katamarino wrote:...I assume I have to make that decision before I buy the wingtips, they're a different shape with/without Sportsman?

Yup. They are totally different tips. Its serious cash to do the Sportsman AND the Qasars at the same time, but there is no way I'd spend the $$ on the Quasar tips w/out them being for a Sportsman.

Just muy .02

Bigrenna wrote:

Katamarino wrote:...I assume I have to make that decision before I buy the wingtips, they're a different shape with/without Sportsman?

Yup. They are totally different tips. Its serious cash to do the Sportsman AND the Qasars at the same time, but there is no way I'd spend the $$ on the Quasar tips w/out them being for a Sportsman.

Just muy .02

Agreed. Don’t forget about wing-x while you’re at it!

Couple of thoughts, which I've mentioned before in other threads on lighting:

If all you're interested in is extra visibility of your airplane to others, just about any bright light system will do, preferably with a pretty broad beam. Being able to pulse them or wig wag them is icing on the cake.

But if you want to be able to see the runway/taxiway better at night, then you have to be a bit more careful with the type of bulbs, and most importantly, they must be aimed correctly. About 13 1/2 years ago, I had HID lights installed in my P172D. One of them is a broad beam taxi bulb, and the other is a narrow beam landing light. The taxi bulb is pretty easy to aim--just point the airplane at a building some distance away and adjust the bulb accordingly, so that the top of the beam is at about pilot eye level. But the landing bulb must be aimed and re-aimed until it's just right on approach, at the airspeed, configuration, and pitch most often used for night approaches. I think I made 6 or 7 landings the night I aimed my lights, before I was satisfied--and that's a pain in the neck, when the light cover has to be removed and reinstalled each time. But once done, it's done--I haven't re-aimed them since.

I also have a PreciseFlight Pulselite module, wired so that both lights operate simultaneously, per PreciseFlight's recommendations. When they're close together, having them wigwag would cause them to appear to be on constantly without any pulsing. If they were on separate wings, wigwagging would be better, but mine's pretty visible anyway. The only hitch in pulsing HID lights is that they need to warm up before being pulsed, so I turn on the landing/taxi lights right after doing the runup, and by the time I arrive at the hold short line, they're warmed up enough to start pulsing them.

Cary

I remember that diesel 182's where doing this mod because they replaced the front cowling with no lights, and where putting the wing lights instead.

Did the STC for a right wing landing light setup go anywhere?

My 172B has the Sportsman STOL and the WingX mods - I did both of them at the same time and couldn't throw down the cash at the time for the Quasar Tips as well. Two years later and the Quasar price has jumped, considerably, especially after you ship to Canada.

Shop time to install the second lighting setup on the right wing isn't as big of a financial hit - if there was an STC.