By Vic Syracuse, EAA Lifetime 180848
This piece originally ran in Vic’s Checkpoints column in the June 2024 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
When it comes to landing our airplanes at night, it seems as though there is never enough light. Perhaps it is age, but I won’t admit to that yet. On my first homebuilt airplane I designed a flip-down panel on the lower cowling to house an incandescent GE 4509 landing light, which has been the mainstay of general aviation aircraft for many years.
I’ve always found the 4509 bulbs to be barely adequate. It seemed as though the bulb was always dead when you needed it. This is most likely due to the harsh vibration environment taking its toll on the filament inside. Consequently, we always practiced night landings without using the landing light. That was always exciting, especially since the human eye has diminished depth perception at night.
Over the years, along came LED technology. Many of us have since incorporated LED landing lights into our aircraft. I upgraded when LEDs first became available, starting with the Whelen Parmetheus, which was an LED drop-in replacement for the 4509. Then came the Parmetheus Plus, which was even better, so I upgraded.
During this time, the automotive industry caught on to LED lighting as well, and we have seen huge changes there. There are a couple of companies that also created bright lights for the off-road industry, such as Baja Designs. Many amateur-built aircraft builders incorporated its lights into their aircraft.
In 2018, I installed the Baja Designs Squadron Pro lights in each wing of the RV-10 and two in the Hummingbird helicopter when I built it. At an advertised 4,095 lumens each, they really light up the grass runway.
Since I live on a grass airstrip and regularly fly at night, my quest for more light is constant. One night just as I touched down, I saw a herd of seven deer in the lights just as the nose wheel settled down. To this day I don’t know how I didn’t hit any of them. I did watch one jump over the wing. I immediately killed the ignitions as soon as I saw them in the hopes of at least protecting the MT propeller. Tragedy avoided.
The RV-10 has wingtip recognition lights and wing leading edge lights. The recognition lights are nothing more than a projector bulb, which were originally incandescent but I have since replaced with an LED bulb. A company by the name of Flyleds has been making some cool products for experimental aircraft for a while. I have been impressed with the products that I have used, including strobe lights, belly beacons, and wig-wag modules. We’ve also installed quite a few over the years for our customers. I ordered and installed its LED replacement for the wingtip recognition light and was really impressed with the increased lumen output and quality of the product.
That got me thinking about some of the other lights they had, such as the Seven Stars landing light that boasted 9,000 lumens of light output. Two of those would double my current setup. After some discussions with Paul, the owner, I ordered two of the Seven Stars and a wig-wag module. Paul also sent two of the Quad Spotlights so I could compare them. Great!
The package from Australia arrived quicker than I thought it would, given it was the holiday season and it had to go through customs. You must assemble the lights when they arrive, but it takes a small screwdriver and about 15 to 20 minutes per light.
The parts and instructions are first class. The instructions are also clear about the size of the wiring you need to have in the aircraft, especially for the Seven Stars, which can draw 7 amps per assembly. The recommended gauge wiring is 14 AWG (American wire gauge), and since I couldn’t remember if I had installed that in my RV-10, I decided to do some bench testing.
Basically, for the bench testing, I decided I would simulate a 1-to-2 volt drop across a smaller gauge wire by using a variable voltage power supply. I purchased a simple lux meter so that I could have some data other than just “seeing the light get brighter or dimmer.” Lux is a unit of illuminance, an objective way to measure brightness.
Sure enough, the difference in voltage made a big difference. At 12.2 volts DC, I was measuring 16,000 lux at 4 feet from the Quad Spotlight. At 14.3 volts DC, the lux was close to 40,000. So, for those of you installing these, pay attention to the wire size. It makes a difference.
I now formulated a plan to compare the three different lights: the Baja Designs Squadron Pro, the Flyleds Quad Spotlight, and the Flyleds Seven Stars. I also decided I would try to get the installations and tests done on three consecutive nights without moving the airplane, so that I would have it located in the same spot and pointed in the same direction. We also had some moonless nights coming up, so that would help as well.
The first step was to measure the current configuration in the RV-10, which consisted of two Baja Designs Squadron Pro spotlights in each leading edge. With the aircraft pointed out of the hangar and down my taxiway, I took the measurements at a point 250 feet away. For this, I measured approximately 17.8 lux.
Next, I installed one Flyleds Quad Spotlight and one Seven Stars light in each leading edge. The new measurement was 28.2 lux. Visibly, now we could see a marked difference in the illumination of the taxiway and structures across the runway, which are about 500-600 feet away.
Finally, I installed two of the Seven Stars, and the lux was measured to be 37.1. The illumination was remarkedly better to our eyes, but sometimes it was hard to capture the difference with the camera. The real test would be flying with them.
Luckily, the weather was wonderful, but I also needed to get night current before I could take Carol to help with the pictures. So, I dutifully went and did my three takeoffs and landings, both at home on our grass strip and at the local airport that was properly lit and striped with reflective paint.
My first reaction upon sitting in the cockpit and turning on the lights was that it was no longer night. When I turned onto the grass runway at home, I was amazed at how far I could see down the runway. “I doubt I’ll get surprised by deer again” was my first thought. On the takeoff roll, I surmised I was easily seeing about 600 feet down the runway.
At the local paved airport, I first saw the reflective stripes and runway numbers at 400 feet in the air and about one-quarter mile. That was amazing. I also thought the first landing shouldn’t count as a night landing as it was so bright. The usual approach to a night landing of “flare and let it settle” was gone. All three landings were squeakers. I even taxied back to take a picture of the runway from the cockpit view. It was amazing!
I also was able to independently turn off each landing light and use just one for a landing. I still had as much light as both Baja Designs Squadron Pro lights.
I was really impressed upon arriving back at my home field, as it is usually a black hole, even though we do have runway lights. At 150 feet over the approach end, I could see almost half of the runway!
The next night the weather was the same, and it was another moonless night, so I took Carol flying at the same time. She, too, had the same reaction, and even managed to get a picture of our home field while on final. The picture speaks for itself.
The new lights exceed my wildest expectations. I do think they make night landings much easier to accomplish and thereby add an extra layer of safety. Since most of my flying is during the day, the lights are always on in wig-wag mode. I can’t wait to ask another pilot how they look from the air.
One thing I did notice when taking the measurements, the LEDs will burn bright spots into your eyes if you look at them. There is an option to have only one of the LEDs lit in the Seven Stars for taxi purposes, which makes sense but requires a second wire. I’m thinking I will add that wire when I upgrade the panel next month. For more details, check out Flyleds.com.
For now, the fun factor for night flying has been increased for me.
Vic Syracuse, EAA Lifetime 180848, is a commercial pilot, A&P/IA mechanic, designated airworthiness representative, and EAA flight advisor and technical counselor. He has built 11 aircraft and has logged more than 10,000 hours in 74 different types. Vic founded Base Leg Aviation, has authored books on maintenance and prebuy inspections, and posts videos weekly on his YouTube channel. He also volunteers as a Young Eagles pilot.