Airplane owners and pilots’ associations look for free in the store

The FAA training and testing website recently released a batch of samples of private pilot knowledge test questions asking: "The aviation information manual specifically encourages pilots to turn on the landing lights when flying below 10,000 feet during the day or night, especially when operating A. In B Class airspace. B. Under reduced visibility. C. Within 15 miles of a towering airport."

If it is not complete, the correct answer is B.

Answer A Use irrelevant airspace regulations to trick you. Answer C has two flaws: the distance is too long for five miles, and the airport does not need to be "tall."

Answer B, as it appears in Chapter 4 of the Aviation Information Manual, says: "Further encourage pilots to turn on the landing lights when flying below 10,000 feet during the day or night, especially within 10 miles of any airport. When flying inside, or under reduced visibility conditions, and in areas where bird flocks may appear, that is, coastal areas, lake areas, garbage dumps, etc."

Leaving aside the deficiencies, the example question clarifies the view that aircraft landing lights play a greater role in flight safety than just illuminating the runway for take-off and landing. They are one of the best collision avoidance systems on board; the discussion of night flight on pages 11-8 of the "Aircraft Flight Manual" reminds pilots to "check their operation by turning on all aircraft lights momentarily during pre-flight inspections" at night .

This chapter also discusses the safety exception to the recommendations for turning on the lights: once the beam no longer reaches the ground during the climb after takeoff, turn it off to avoid distracting smoke, haze, or cloud reflections, unless it still needs to avoid collisions.

In view of the intermittent nature of the landing lights, pilots often find that the landing lights have been turned off and no longer light up. Flip the rocker switch and recycle the circuit breaker may help; if not, you may face a so-called blackout landing-something simulated in your (at least) three hours of night flight training.

Usually, the two tips for starting a night landing are to see the beam of the landing lights reflecting off the runway and clearly observe the traces of the aircraft tires below.

In the absence of landing lights, “when the runway lights at the far end of the runway look higher than the nose of the aircraft for the first time, they may begin to round”—this is a delicate operation that “requires the pilot to have the runway surface It feels that the aircraft flight manual states that power and pitch changes are used as needed to complete the landing.