Recognition Lights

[4stripes]

It seems a collision avoidance system would be a better choice than all these lights. Most of the strobe lights used on small GA aircraft are not very effective in daylight and the flashing landing lights are uni-directional. Portable systems are available from $500-1500.

Not going to help unless other aircraft has his transponder on...

Pulse lights will help if traffic is approaching head-on,
Strobes work from all angles. They provide 360 degree increased visibility, day or night.

Cheers Eric

[LEA]

Karl;
I agree with you about the awareness radio for anti collision protection.We had all better start practicing looking out the windshield full time ,because with the introduction of glass instrument panels ,you know where those pilots and passengers will have their full attention focused.I am not easily
impressed with the total log flight time of pilots (most is on auto Pilot) but I would venture to guess the recent mid-air was due to in cabin distraction by all occupants. The old addage of "fly the airplane ",still holds true.We need every available type of assistance necessary to keep safe . However see and be seen is still the main factor.
Bob

[johneeb]

With the advent of all the Glass in our cockpits (me included) we are turning what were good "Heads up Airplanes" into "Good Heads down Airplanes".

[GAHorn]

The latest report, ... an early observation by the NTSB investigation of that accident,... speculates that the departing 172 was returning to the airport, when it struck the departing 170.
No doubt See/Avoid will ultimately be quoted. It's difficult to admit how much time we spend admiring our new avionic toys instead of swiveling our heads. The tragedy of this recent accident certainly has given pause, to consider what we should do about it. Standard patterns, radio communications and looking for traffic seems to be more important than more cockpit equipment.
I'd hate to think we might fall into the trap of believing that all we need do is buy another gizmo to solve the problem. (If I were returning to an airport, I'm not sure how much credibility I'd give to a cheaper TCAS/Traffic Alert system. Lots of airplanes taxi around with txdr's on, and I'd expect plenty of aircraft to be displayed by the gizmo. So if the gizmo alerted a target, it'd probably cause me to stare at gizmo a while in an effort interpret the alert, rather than be looking outside earlier in the area-approach and talking/listening on the radio. Just speculating....
Lights are good. Requires someone to be looking still, tho'. A radio call from another airplane in the pattern is as good or maybe better even, than a "TRAFFIC" audible alert from a toy TCAS in an already loud cabin.
(If anyone plans to buy a toy TCAS, ... don't forget that the audio is not sufficient to be noticed unless it's plumbed into your headset. The thing may not be as attractive when the costs of that requirement are met.)

[lowNslow]

No doubt that heads and eyes up is the best policy. But how many times have you gotten a traffic advisory from ATC and not seen it til it's almost on top of you, and thats with strobes. My experience with strobes in light aircraft is they are not very visible in daylight. Are the TCAS sytems available "toys"? I don't know since I don't own one. The portable TCAS systems mount on the glareshield, so should not put you heads down. If you want visibility, painting your aircraft with dayglo red as mentioned in a previous post would probably be more effective the current GA strobes available.

[GAHorn]

Some of the highest accident rates recorded involve military trainers with Day-Glo wingtips/tails. The Monroy and Traffic Alert type "toy" TCAS systems have been reviewed by reputable avionics dealers, and they do not get reviews that I'd trust, since most of them seem to trying to sell one or the other. Looking at a unit on the dash...still causes one to be looking at a device in the cockpit within one meter of your face. That's not the same as scanning the horizon for objects a minute away from collision.
http://www.avionicswest.com/articles/atd-200.htm might be of interest as an article

[n2582d]

Some of the highest accident rates recorded involve military trainers with Day-Glo wingtips/tails

George, the implication of that statement is that these trainers are colliding because of their Day-Glo wingtips/tails. Could it be that they have a higher incidence of midairs because they are practicing formation flying?

For what it's worth we had to repaint the Day-Glo paint on the Beech 18s about every 6 months--the color seemed very prone to UV fading. The fading was accelerated by the planes not being hangared.

[GAHorn]

My point was that dayglo paint has very little evidence that it provides additional visibilty in flight agianst the background of sky/clouds. It's primarily a color which is more easily seen in the woods/water after a crash for search/rescue purposes.

[Harold Holiman]

At one time during the 60's, the FAA was considering requiring "dayglow" paint on all general aviation aircraft. Finally their studies concluded that it would not provide the additional safety desired and dropped the idea. There is still no substitute for "eyes out the windows" imho.

Harold

[4stripes]

Paint can be helpful, but a highly polished bare metal finish always catches my attention!
I wish that it would be more practical, then my plane would go back to original...

Cheers Eric

[marks]

I recently purchase a new dimmer maxdim for my plane at http://www.maxpulsemaxdim.com I have recounted this in another thread. But the install went smoothly and the device worked flawlessly.
The dimmer is STCd for 170s.

They also have a pulser maxpulse that is in the final STC process. I emailed them and it looks like it will be about a week or so before they have the pulser STC for the 170s. If that is anything like the dimmer, they have another customer waiting to get the pulser.