FAA Flashlight Rule for Pilots

One of the guys in our coffee group is a comercial pilot that flys freight. Knowing my intrest in flashlights, he asked my opinion on the following FAA rule:
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Section 91.503: Flying equipment and operating information.
(a) The pilot in command of an airplane shall ensure that the following flying equipment and aeronautical charts and data, in current and appropriate form, are accessible for each flight at the pilot station of the airplane:

(1) A flashlight having at least two size "D" cells, or the equivalent, that is in good working order.
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I'll ask the CPF his question..."what is "equivalent" to a "flashlight having at least two size "D" cells....in good working order"?

Would the xenergy-3in1 or the Sure Fire A2 be equivalent?

Info on the xenergy can be found here:
http://thelightsite.cruxial.com/reviews/xenergy_3in1.htm

I'd guess they mean light output.... In which case, a Tec40, Scorpion, G2, E2, Legend LX, XenErgy 3in1, etc. should be more than adequate considering how dim a 2-D eveready cheapo can be.

If using a lithium powered light, toss a couple of spares in the ol' flight bag just for good measure.

If they mean runtime as well, that could be a problem, which is why I'd carry spare batteries just in case.

I'd guess they specified "D" cells to eliminate the possibility of the pilots carrying something with the light output of a penlight (which would be next to useless in a smoke filled cabin.)

A Surefire E2e/KL1 tied to a 5-pound bag of sugar. ---Marc

My pilot friend did say that they use the flashlight both in and out of the plane. They use it mostly to do their ground checks at nignt. This indoor/outdoor usage may be the reason for the design of the Sure Fire A2 and the xenergy-3in1.

Speaking as a pilot: When in doubt, ask the FAA. I don't know if the FAA has clarified this rule, (they will issue a clarification if asked) but unless the FAA itself explains what D-cell equivalent is, then pilots are going to carry D-cell powered flashlights.

Without the appropriate clarification, a ramp check (surprise FAA inspection) can yield a violation if you don't have the required equipment.

Of course, many pilots I know carry more than one flashlight. And keep those flashlights handy. When the electricity goes off in an airplane at night, it can be very dark indeed.

--Bill

I bet they are trying to define runtime.

-john

I wonder what the latest "revision/approval date" is on that rule. Sounds like a rule that was established in reference to old technology.

I agree with several of the above statements, "wanting something more than a penlight, run time, etc...". Seems to me a pilot would want a beam that would focus from spot as well as flood...

There's got to be an answer with today's torches! Here's a chance for a manufacturer to "jump on it"!

Slightly off topic: (aren't I always?) An old aquiantance was a general aviation instrument instructor. He used to require his students to wear some kind of flashlight around their neck. The suggested one was a red/white 2AA light from Sporty's pilot shop. The idea being if you lose power while flying, it will happen at a bad time, and you don't have time to look for a light. On a light plane, typically many of the gauges are powered by other than electricity. (Vacuum?)

Anyway, he said if he noticed a student without a light, he'd kill the lights during a flight and ask how the guy planned to get back to the airport.

Originally posted by Roy:
My pilot friend did say that they use the flashlight both in and out of the plane. They use it mostly to do their ground checks at nignt. This indoor/outdoor usage may be the reason for the design of the Sure Fire A2 and the xenergy-3in1.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Yea, that's why A2 is called an "Aviator"

We used to turn on our trusty crooknecks prior to the cat shot and aim it at the instrument panel in the mighty A-6. It came in handy the very first time I took a night cat shot. We lost all our panel lights and our attitude reference went belly up. It was great, (not at the time though especially since it was 2 knucklehead students in the plane and one of them was me) just like the emergency simulator except this time it was for real. Shining the very dim red lens at the back-up attitude indicated (gyro) with overcast skies and no horizon. After the first 5 seconds of terror the training takes over and it was no bigge. Without that light life would have been very ugly.

Here is how dumb we were back then (1990) and I hope they have changed it now. You flew about 4-5 nights a month, the rest were days. If you were flying at night you checked your light before walking to the plane and then used it for pre-flight. After the flight you wouldn't try it again until the next night flight. Some flights took off at dusk so after you checked that it worked you didn't turn it on again until the next flight. I would change batteries whenever my light wouldn't turn on during preflight or it looked very dim. We never even considered a lamp burning out. So, now here I am years later wondering how many times did I fly at night with 1-10 minutes of battery life or a bulb ready to go bad. Maybe our maintaince guys checked them or had a battery change cycle but I doubt it. Same thing with our emergency radios we carried in our vest. Before every flight you would turn it on and make sure you heard static, static equals power. When there was no static you got a new battery.

One day a bud of mine has to jump out of the plane (A-6E) at night about 100 miles off the CA. coast. He gets out clean, the other guy wasn't so lucky. He climbs in his raft and fires up his radio. He has good static and feels relieved. It shouldn't take them long to find him, they replied to his Mayday and got his position prior to ejecting when he was on the aircraft radio. After 30 minutes he hears the sound of jet engines so he starts to call out direction on his radio but no one answers. He keeps trying, the static still sounds good but they are not answering. Finally they spot his strobe light (same kind of check with the strobe during pre-flight) and they pick him up. He comes to find out his emer. radio was not transmitting. It was a great receiver but the transmitter was gone. I started carrying a Mag AA as a back-up after his incident.

One day I will tell his whole story about that night, tragic but humorous. I have gone waaay off topic so I had better hit the rack.

A 2L at 2.6oz, three hour runtime and brightness equivalent of at least a 2D or 3D conventional flashlight, carryable or placeable almost anywhere, including on a neck lanyard, is probabably the lightest and smallest light that would fit the FAA's criteria, unless of course, they interpret differently.

Dave,

Another fascinating account eloquently told. I think you have many stories to tell, and many colleagues to read them

Brightnorm

BillPilot

as a pilot, too, i agree with you. i'm not going to stop carrying a 2D light until the faa say otherwise. in fact, isn't this why lightwave says only their Lightwave 4000 is faa approved, not their other lights.

i hope if faa does issue a clarification that it will be posted here on cpf

Originally posted by Roy:
Section 91.503: Flying equipment and operating information.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Does this apply to non-commercial pilots?

Originally posted by Albany Tom:

Anyway, he said if he noticed a student without a light, he'd kill the lights during a flight and ask how the guy planned to get back to the airport.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Funny how location makes a difference. I know (in theory) that if you are in a dark enough area with few lights on the ground, then you need to use your gyro instruments to fly, as if you were in instrument conditions. But when I used to fly, I was in the Philadelphia/New Jersey/New York City area, where there is lots and lots and lots of light from human sources. In some areas the ground was lit up like some sort of glowing wheat field.

I never had any trouble making out a horizon or locating an airport...the big problem was locating the _wrong_ airport. Airports have flashing beacons, and if you _think_ that your airport is in a particular location, and look that-a-way and _see_ a beacon, than it is very easy to fly to a _different_ airport than the one intended.

I'd often turn off the lights inside the cabin to better see what was happening _outside_.

*sigh* It's been a while.

-Jon

Jonathon

Your post sure brought back memories of flying down south to the Minneapolis-St.Paul area to do some tower controlled night flying. I no longer have the opportunity to do that and I had completely forgotten how confusing all those airports and misc flashing lights could be.

Thanks for the nostalgia trip.

I grew up with airplanes. I first "flew" at age 10, sitting on phone books. It was a V-tail Bonanza. My Dad always had 3 flashlights in the plane. One was a big (so it seemed back then) chrome 3D with a magnet on it. The other 2 were those little chrome penlights, one of them had a red lens. He always had spare batteries and bulbs. Our family took that plane from Orlando to Boston twice. That was cool. His first plane was a Cessna radial engined tail dragger, a 192 I think, not sure. I never got to fly that one.

I took lessons in the 80's when I was in my late 20's. My instructor was about 21 max I think. Funny, but I don't ever remember learning the flashlight requirements. I always had several in my flight bag though. Eventually, the price of rentals got too high and I stopped flying. South Florida is also one of those places where there is so much ground light that you can always see. It's like one giant city from the Keys halfway to Cocoa Beach.

I miss flying too. My friend recently owned a piece of a Mooney. (someone's going to ask which piece I'm sure....it was the left wing )It was fun to fly but too cramped for me. It's like a sports car version of a single engine plane, fast but small.

Nostalgia trip here too...sorry to ramble.

Anyway, my guess would be that the FAA was concerned with runtime first and a minimum level of output secondarily when they specified 2D or better. The old 2AA penlights were notoriesly unreliable back then, and the battery capacities and shelf lives were much poorer than today's alkalines.

I recently learned that there is an online database of planes, and I found that old radial tail dragger, it's still in operation, as is the Bonanza.

The EL Blaster VI might be a good light. Very bright, bulb hopefully won't need to be changed.

My Dad is a flight instructor back in Denver. I am *sorta* a pilot too (have more than enough hours to get my license, but they're not current enough now, and I never finished by taking the flying part of the test), and I wasn't aware of this rule until recently. My dad always carries a 2AA maglite with a red lens for night flying (non modded, but he's getting a BB 400 soon that he doesn't know about ). He also carries a 2x123 Xenon SF knock-off I got for him before the days of CPF (actually part of the reason I found CPF). He had recently asked me about this rule, and whether I knew if they meant it HAD to be a 2xD cell light, or the equilivalent. I wasn't sure, so he asked some of the FAA people at the FSS station at his airport. They weren't sure either, so a good answer to this question would actually be quite helpful! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

My neighbor is a commercial and Airforce pilot. He has flown in the last three "conflicts" that we've had overseas.

This neighbor of mine has, up until meeting me, carried ONLY a Minimag with a red filter for use inside the cabin. He takes the filter off for pre-flight, and puts it on for in the cabin. I kid you not. This guy has many thousands of hours of airtime, and that's what he carried: Minimag.

What does he carry now (Post Darell)? His primary "big light" is an E2e, and Arc AAA is in his pocket and a red Photon is around his neck. Says he gets the most use out of the Photon in the cabin, of course. He just loves telling me how he impresses the hell out of the "other guys" when he fires up the E2 and can actually light up the top of the tail of a 777 from the tarmac. I just can't believe the inadequate light that many of these guys must be carrying. Heck, I feel naked if I don't have at least three times the firepower of what my neighbor USED to carry. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Since this thread came up again, I'm going to repost part of Roy's post and ask a question:

___________________________________________
Section 91.503: Flying equipment and operating information.
(a) The pilot in command of an airplane shall ensure that the following flying equipment and aeronautical charts and data, in current and appropriate form, are accessible for each flight at the pilot station of the airplane:
(1) A flashlight having at least two size "D" cells, or the equivalent, that is in good working order.
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Does anyone know if the SF Aviator was APPROVED by the FAA for use by commercial pilots in place of the "2-D cell or equivalent" requriement? If not, I understand a pilot could get in hot water for having an A2 instead of an Eveready 99¢ 2-D cell flashlight in his/her bag...

BTW, my non-commercial pilot friend (flies banners and short hops) carries a red infinity with him for night cockpit use (per my suggestion, thankyouverymuch!) and loves it - he hooks it onto his headset and it nicely lights the instrument panel if/when the panel lights fail.