What part of
AIM 4-3-23-g is unclear?
g. When entering the departure runway for takeoff or to “line up and wait,” all lights, except for landing lights, should be illuminated to make the aircraft conspicuous to ATC and other aircraft on approach.
My bold.
I suppose if the RAH pilot in question turns on the strobes on rotation, he also waits until after his engines are started to turn on the beacon?
I always turn on the strobes when entering a runway. That USAir accident in LAX taught me that.
For those who doubt the usefulness of the strobe lights being on ANY time you're on a runway, I'll offer the following:
1. At night after landing on a parallel runway, and crossing another with traffic in position, it can sometimes be very hard to see the other plane several thousand feet down the runway. The red & green nav lights blend in with the background all too easily, and depending on the intensity of the runway lights, the lights on the nose gear may not be that conspicuous. The flashing white lights certainly help to positively identify that there's an aircraft on the runway.
2. Then there's the student pilot who *almost* had a runway incursion. He was supposed to hold short, but decided to cross the active runway instead. The tower controller saw the guy's strobes come on and was able to stop him in time.
One major US carrier will sit on the runway all day and wait until cleared for takeoff before turning on the strobes- pretty pointless by that time IMO.
To the guys who whine that it hurts your eyes- get over it. It's a safety measure. You won't go blind in the few seconds it takes for the guy in front of you to get across the hold line and onto the runway.