Nah Neil, you're da man. Happy Thanksgiving, I hope you'll be where you want to be! I won't.
fbh

ATC and pilots never make mistakes do they? There would be at least one airline crew and some passengers who lived longer had they had strobes on. When I'm on a runway strobes will be on. The people in the back certainly deserve that level of safety. If they bother you then don't look at them.

Yea that 15 seconds it takes to wait until lined up and pointed down the runway before lighting up is crucial.

Double post.

Where did I write that I flip it all on crossing the hold short line? I'm always courteous taxiing into position. Once there we all should be lighting them up.

Good point! Line up and wait clearances are all limited to 15 seconds.

I can see the point about being courteous and keeping the landing lights off IF you're facing somebody on the other side of the runway. At the same time, 90% of the time, it isn't a big deal.

I will agree that strobe lights go on when entering or crossing a runway, not at the start of the takeoff roll. Do you wait until you introduce fuel before you turn on the beacon too?

At our airline, at least in the B738, the checklist specifically calls for strobe lights ON when cleared for takeoff. IIRC, in our MD-80 fleet, it calls for fuselage lights on when cleared onto the runway, day or night. But the 737 checklist has nothing similar; it is optional, and most guys turn them on at night only.

Every fleet, every carrier, has slight differences in how lights are manipulated in that critical phase... just prior to, and during, TO roll.

Courtesy is nice, but sometimes the checklist (and safety/visibility) takes some precedence.

I think the only time it's really a "Tool Move" is when you are stopped, nose to nose, for an extended time, waiting to turn, and you -don't- turn off your taxi lights.

Airplanes rolling onto the runway for takeoff have to turn them on, so if you are sitting there...behind them...

"Look Away!"

The strobe switch on the -88 stays on all the time. They just don't work on the ground. Douglas was way ahead of its time