I hear you about strobes not being as visible as landing lights, but as you say, landing lights only face forward.

According to the FAA/NTSB statistics, the vast majority of mid-airs involve one airplane overtaking another. Head-on collisions are really rare, since both pilots can see and avoid in that scenario.
I'd like to light my plane up as much as possible in an omnidirectional way to hopefully wake up the guy who's approaching me in my blind spot.

Oregon180 wrote:According to the FAA/NTSB statistics, the vast majority of mid-airs involve one airplane overtaking another.

This is what always worried me when I flew the Savannah. Dog-slow on final, I was worried about a faster plane (that's most of 'em) running up my ass.

There are now some very bright LEDs available, and it seems to me that a row of them blinking on the trailing edge of the rudder would be a great safety feature.

tom

It would be nice if all mfg's of LED lighting used the same methods and rating criteria . . . but they don't. So how is one to determine what's what?

Some LEDs are more efficient that others, but there's no magic here - - you can't get lots of light without consuming more electricity. And consuming electricity (measured in watts) means there's heat to dissipate to keep the LEDs cool so they don't Chernobyl. As some mfgs are not all that forthcoming, wattage may be the only available yardstick even though it's not exact, i.e. more wattage equals more light output. Knowing effective lumens (and the beam angle you would like) is much better to know. An LED costing 25% or the big buck light, but only putting out 1/4 the lumens, may not be the smokin' deal you'd think. BTW, looking directly at an LED light source, even a 1 to 3 watt single emitter will blind you - the source looks incredibly bright, but that doesn't necessarily equate to adequate light where you need it.

Some, Whelen is one example, don't disclose lumen output (that's effective lumens, not raw lumens). But since they are for aircraft, they at least do disclose the current draw (amperage, amps) and voltage. From that you can determine watts or wattage. Voltage times current (in amps) equals watts (that being the power consumed or dissipated).

That elcheapo 6 watt Par 36? - - don't expect a lot of light for a lot of distance. The marine light for the spreader bar is only 13 watts and with a claimed 900 lumens, with the 30 degree beam it should be okay, depends on how much light you want. The AeroLeds LX or HX36 are 45 watt and over 1500 lumens (and having visited the factory, and knowing the folks, I believe they are honest with their ratings). The HX has built in wig - wag, nothing else to buy but you do have run a wire between the lights to sync them.

Most all the Huskys with LED landing, taxi, and strobe lighting are running AeroLeds, as that's what the factory offers as an option. There's a few that are running other stuff.

I have four AeroLeds (2 landing, 2 taxi) on my Husky. All four come on with landing light switch on, only taxi come on when that's selected*. All four wig-wag, and standing off to the side in the front quadrant, out of the direct landing light beam, the taxi LEDs appear much brighter than the landing LEDs due to their flat wider beam spread. I also installed AeroLed strobes wing tips and tail. Some dogs come factory with no tail light/strobe, incorporating that into the tip lights. I prefer having a tail light/strobe as there's a dead spot directly behind the ship. It's a narrow dead spot, but that's probably where I'd get hit from :^(.

*"Auto switching", to get taxi to come on anytime landing is on, is accomplished with an isolation diode on each side, cathode to +taxi, anode to + landing - no extra wires to run. Having it all come on together, when landing lights are on, doesn't overload electrical system as two of the LEDs is still less than the original 100 watt halogens.

bumper

Oregon180 wrote:.........According to the FAA/NTSB statistics, the vast majority of mid-airs involve one airplane overtaking another. Head-on collisions are really rare, since both pilots can see and avoid in that scenario.....

The easiest traffic to spot is crossing traffic-- if your scan is wide enough. The relative motion of the other aircraft to yours makes it easier to see. The worse is head-on or over-taking traffic, as the other traffic doesn't move (or doesn't move mch) in the windshield.. At least over-taking happens fairly slowly- my C180 at 140 overtaking say a Champ at 80 equals a closure rate of only 60 mph. If I see him a half mile away, I still have 30 seconds to react. On the other hand, the same two airplanes approaching each other head-on have a closure rate of 220 mph-- if I see this one that same half mile away, I have only 8 seconds to react. That's why I worry more about a head-on than being rear-ended.

I installed one of the marinebeam.com LED landing lights- 13W (equiv to 100W incandescent), 30 degree spread ($72 delivered). He also wired a flasher into the circuit for that light- a PSA #1224DC available from Spruce ($30 delivered). It's quite a bit brighter than the old 4509 bulb, added to the flashing effect, combine to catch the eye quite a bit more than just the light being on. Not quite as good as wig-wags on opposing wings, but way better than before.