Dear friends and followers today, I'll be answering
another great question which has been coming in every so often. "Joe could you explain what lights are fitted on an Airbus
A320 and their meaning?" That's a great question, so let's get started!
Okay, first to know there are eight different types of lights fitted on an Airbus and we'll be working from the front to the back
of the plane. In mid height of the nosewheel shrub is the taxi and takeoff light.
The taxi light is obviously to be used during taxi, powered by 115 volts and
400 Watts, it points forward and lights of the taxi line
which is a great help if there aren't any
taxi line lights fitted on the ground. Many airlines have the procedure to turn on the taxi light once the aircraft is clear of the
ground crew and has received their taxi clearance. The take-off] light is even brighter at
600 Watts. Its primary use is for takeoff only and its beam has a wider angle than the taxi light.
The next time you spot an Airbus on the runway just about to take off.
You'll see the take-off light comes on as soon as the pilots have received their takeoff clearance
and it automatically turns off, so does the taxi light as soon as the nose wheel is retracted
but the switches need to be put into the 'OFF' position by the pilots.
The two lights below are called the Runway Turnoff Lights
Because the Taxi Light is pointing in a straight line, and you want to exit the runway you wouldn't see where you were going,
so therefore you have the Runway Turnoff Lights
lighting up the runway exits and close turns on taxiways at a wider angle.
The next set of lights are the wing and engine
scan lights there is one on each side of the
fuselage and its beam is placed to light of the leading edge of the wing and the engine inlets
their main purpose is that pilots can check if any ice has build-up whilst flying through clouds at low temperatures or
if there is any damage to the wing. Second is to make a plane more visible at night. On a Airbus A319 and
A320 you can see part of the wing by looking out the cockpit window
but on an A321 you would have to ask a flight attendant to check for ice on the wings
by looking out a passenger window close to the wing
This little buddy here the bottom of the fuselage and it's colleague on top of the fuselage is the so called
Anti-Collision Beacon. The beacon light is a bright
flashing red light and many Airlines have different ways of handling the usage of the beacon light
but its main purpose is to draw the attention to
anyone within the area of the plane that this plane is moving, either being pushed back or operating under its own power.
The beacon light is in the before start checklist
because it should be turned on just prior to engine start
notifying the ground crew that the pilots receive the pushback clearance and is about to start the engines any second now.
It remains switched on until the aircraft turns off the engines and
It is safe to approach the aircraft for ground handling. The next two lights are the landing lights on
the Airbus A320 family they are mounted at the bottom of the wing, close to the fuselage.
They are extended and retracted by an electric motor and each give a powerful 600 watt beam onto the runway.
They are slightly tilted downwards due to the upward pitch moment of the aircraft shortly before touchdown.
On the Airbus putting the landing lights into the
extended position is a good reminder that you have received your line-up clearance and then turning them on
as soon as you received the takeoff clearance. The landing lights are kept on until reaching
10,000 feet and then are switched off and retracted.
Coming in for approach you turn the lights back on at
10,000 feet to make yourself more visible to others and keep them on until leaving the runway. Now moving
outward of the wing, we have the navigation lights or also known as the position lights on each side of the wingtip.
From a pilot's perspective,
the light on the right is steady green and one to the left or portside is steady
red. Both have a hundred and ten degree opening angle and a third white light is placed
at the far most end of the plane with an opening angle of
140 degrees so the three lights, beam at an angle of
360 degrees so that other pilots can determine the direction in which the airplane is flying.
Same as a navigation lights on boats for example.
Then we have the High Intensity Strobe Lights.
Three white flashing lights, one on each
wingtip and one at the end of the fuselage and they give a double flash every second.
They are very bright and intended to attract the attention during flight
They are turned on once lining up on the runway, making the plane more visible for other planes
which are about to land on the same runway and are turn off once leaving the runway after landing because they are very
distracting and
blinding if you taxi behind the colleague who might have forgotten to switch them off. And by the way when you look into the sky
full of stars and you spot flashing lights those are the strobe lights of an airplane and not a satellite.
Last but not least we have the logo lights, fitted in the horizontal
stabilizer, the lights shine towards the company logo painted on the vertical tail fin while useful for
advertising, the primary purpose of these lights is safety especially
when you're on approach and a plane is waiting at the holding point at a 90 degree angle to the runway
you can spot that plane easier. Now some of the exterior lights may be
inoperative the plane is very quickly restricted to daylight operations only.
Therefore you would have to consult the MEL, Minimum Equipment List, and check which lights need to be working.
For example if the beacon lights and the strobe lights were inoperative or the NAV Lights.
The plane would be only approved to be flying during daylight hours.
But there are redundancies for example you have two
navigation light systems if one of them fails you switch to the second set as easy as that.
So that's to give you an overview of the lights fitted on the Airbus A320. As I said before
Airlines have different procedures on how and when to use the exterior lights
Every light has its purpose, but have a secondary purpose and that is to make the plane more visible to others.
I hope you enjoyed this short little video about lights on an airbus
A320 so make sure to hit the subscribe button and to get notified as soon as the next video goes online and
spread the word!
All the best farewell, Your Captain Joe
The next time you sit on an Airbus
Maybe on a window seat close to the engine see if you can spot the landing light beam when the pilots turn it on after
receiving their takeoff clearance, and then enjoy the takeoff