Don't worry about skin cancer... worry more about all of that radar energy that hits you every time you fly...

(oh and the baseball sized tumor you'll have in your brain from your cellphone...)

 

Playing Devils Advocate:
The probable cause saying nothing about the failure of the pilot to turn on his strobes. Basically everyone is ASSUMING that if his strobes would have been on the landing aircraft would have noticed him on the runway.

 

Actually it takes 30 minutes or more for your eyes to fully adjust to their best night vision.

 

While that's true...its also blatantly obvious that strobes make you MORE VISIBLE (just as texaspilot) which would have improved the odds of avoiding catastrophe.

 

I didn't think this thread would stir up such a ruckus. I am not the only one that doesn't like it. The majority of the captains I fly with have expressed their dislike of the strobes on the ground. It's not just me. Most people in CLT do not turn their strobes on crossing the runway except for a couple of companies.

 

Exactly what I do. And the more schmutz the better, it diffuses the light better...

 

In the simplest of terms who is more likely to get a violation from the FAA? The guy who used their strobes & was hit or the guy who wasn't using the strobes and was hit. My job isn't to make you feel warm and cozy in your cockpit. If it annoys you GOOD, it mean you noticed me. Our job has all kinds of lights and sounds slamming against our senses.
I vote this thread be locked. Its like the Roe V Wade debate no one will change the others mind.

 

I got some clarification at work this week on the strobe issue. Our airline FAA inspector is highly opposed to the captain turning on the strobes while taxiing. Thats why we don't use them until takeoff.

I am suprised that companies still require this practice if the feds' position is not to use them.

 

uhm, i don't think anyone on here said to turn the strobes on while you are taxiing around the airport. if you were to ask that same faa guy the question the correct way i am sure he would agree with 99% of the guys on here. if you are going onto a runway for any reason be it crossing, position and hold, take off, etc, etc, the strobes are on.

if he still disagrees tell him to read his faa approved material.

1.
http://www.tc.faa.gov/logistics/gran...tyTemplate.pdf

2.
. The degree of impairment depends on the intensity and duration of the exposure. Brief flashes from high-intensity, white (xenon) strobe lights, which are commonly used as anticollision lights on aircraft, have a smaller effect on night vision since their energy pulses are of short duration (milliseconds).

http://www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviat...1%20Vision.doc

3.
http://www.tc.faa.gov/acb300/techrep...T-TN-05-18.pdf

please read these things and tell me that the faa doesn't want you to turn your strobes on when entering a runway for any reason.

READ PAGES 65, IT IS STANDARD PROCEDURE FOR AMERICAN, CONTINENTAL, NORTHWEST, UNITED to turn their strobe lights on when going onto a runway for any reason.

now i ask you to use common sense. no one said to have the strobe lights on while just taxiing around the airport. and ALL OF THE REPORTS SAY to use judgement when operating the strobes. so that is all you have to do. like i said it is now standard procedure for most of the majors to have them on anytime you are on a runway.. nuff said.

 

at our company we turn our strobes on to cross runways. unfortunately around half of our fleet is not equipped with strobes (Boeing sold it as an option on the early classic 747's).

texaspilot i see where youre coming from but if youre going to make a thread telling people to not use strobes on the ground when crossing a runway, you should expect a lot of responses on why you should use them.