Landing Lights

[Yadama]

Bearhawkers

Has anyone utilised any of the landing light kits available for Vans and retrofitted them for the Bearhawk?

Would be interested to know how other builders have accomplished their landing light setups... Grateful for any information..

Yadama

[tf104]

here is a pic of how I did mine .

[Bradrock]

Check out Desertbearhawk on Facebook. He has been doing excellent work and has some info on his lights there. They're not Vans, but v good for information and head scratching.

[jaredyates]

I used a single light in the nose bowl.

[Ed.Meyer]

I am interested in doing the single light in the nose bowl. What light did you use and how did you mount it?

[jaredyates]

The way I did it is just one way, not necessarily the best way of course. And I have not flown the plane at night, so take that for what it's worth too!
Here are some of the log entries that show progress:

http://bearhawkblue.com/nosebowl-light-preparations/

http://bearhawkblue.com/landing-light-bracket/

http://bearhawkblue.com/installing-the-landing-light/

http://bearhawkblue.com/locating-the-oil-cooler/p1020357/

The end result has adjustable vertical aim, but I've only used it for increased daytime visibility and haven't needed to adjust it. The LED was a superseded design, and thus it was marked down 50%. At the time, the manufacturer would have a box of seconds in their booth at Oshkosh, and maybe they still do. In this case, they said they changed the heat sink design so that it would be more waterproof (submersible), so I wasn't concerned with missing out on that feature.

I didn't want to make any cuts on the wing leading edge, out of concerns for weakening the structure. I suppose the fiberglass tip is another place to consider, but then you'd have to form a more complex acrylic lens.

[Ed.Meyer]

Thanks Jared.

[Erbman]

I used a rectangular car headlight bulb in the leading edge of each wing in custom holders that I designed and built. That installation was designed and built in the 20th century. It works fine, but there are so many better options available now.

[Bearhawk_Cub]

I used the High Intensity Discharge (HID) 'Xenon' Light Kits form http://www.duckworksav.com/LELightKits.html
I did this before the LED's came out. I did one in each wing. There will be wig-wag from the Vertical Power VP-X Sport. . I can take photos of the light in the wings if wanted.
John

[Battson]

Just to note - Bob Barrows has made a comment along the lines of:

"The wing skin is a structural element, and therefore cutting a large hole into the leading edge does weaken the wing somewhat."

But you're only going to notice that weakness if you are unlucky enough to stress the wing to its ultimate strength... which is a bad day to begin with.



Personally, I didn't want to fly at night, so I didn't bother with any lights and banked the weight saving. I have landed very close to evening civil twilight on a couple of occasions, and didn't miss having lights. YMMV.

As an aside, I have found other lights hardly help with visual identification on a bright day. Our group flying experiences have shown us that a brightly coloured planes are much easier to see and spot, compared with a dull plane with strobes / nav lights running. But I digress.

[whee]

I don't want to weaken the wing at all so I'm putting my landing lights in the wing tips...if I put any on at all. I mostly agree with Battson in that lights don't help all that much during the day but I like flying at night and although I've never had a landing light for night flying I think they are worth the weight.

[AKKen07]

I want to add my .02 about recognition via lights to this 6 year old conversation... just cuz. We have a very high density of GA aircraft around my place and I can testify from a lot of experience here that, although the nav/strobe lights add just a bit to visibility, LED landing lights ESPECIALLY with a pulsing or wig-wag function make aircraft stand out before you can see anything else. I don't fly much at night around here but will put a pulsing light (probably in the nose) for recognition. It only helps from certain angles of course, but man, its huge. If money, weight, and complexity were no issue I'd do one in each wingtip. Planes with that sort of setup seem the easiest to spot on hazy days.

[JimParker256]

Just as food for thought - because I'm not sure it makes sense on a Bearhawk...

A friend of mine has a CH-750 (slow STOL airplane) and his landing lights are attached on brackets attached to the bottom of the wing, basically where the wing strut attaches. They are very small LED lights, but quite bright. Used more as recognition lights than landing lights, but they do appear to work as landing lights as well.

On his plane (top speed around 95 mph) the added drag doesn't really make much difference. Not sure how it would impact a Bearhawk, however.

[geraldmorrissey]

Single engine at night, you don't know what your going to hit until you hit it. However flashing dual landing lights are used by traffic reporters up here in Seattle and are VERY visible even in bright sunlight. Had a friend with a pink Fly Baby, could see that plane for miles. The CAP up here insists that gloss white is the most visible color in the air and on the ground. Doesn't make sense to me but I've never been on a search. I'm rethinking a flashing landing light for daytime but no single engine at night for me. Maybe in other parts of the country but not where I fly. Few places to land even in the best of conditions. Trees, freeways and water, pick one.
Cheers
Gerry
Patrol #30

[Chris In Milwaukee]

I have visions of working up something for the faring between the lift strut and the wing for mine. The high-intensity LED light are available in amazingly compact packages now. Something like this, perhaps:

http://www.twistedthrottle.com/denali-dm1-micro-single-intensity-led-lighting-kit-with-full-wiring-harness-and-m8-mount

dm-pair-2014_web.jpg

[noema]

Maybe there is a new product. Wing tip nav/strobe lights with integrated landing lights. In the form factor what old-school strobes used to be there should be enough space for forwaed facing led spots.