FBW A320: When are wing lights used?

Greetings,

I was wondering during which stages of flight the wing lights are used and when they aren’t. Are they synched with the landing lights or is there any other purpose?

Just curious, thanks!

All I hear (usually in YouTube videos by people who appear to know what they’re talking about) is that the wing lights are only there to visually check for icing.

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Aircraft tail+wing lights show the a/c is live the colours allow you to tell if others are going away or coming towards you.
Just before pushback the beacon is used to warn that the aircraft is about to be moving
Strobe is used on turning onto the runway for departure (in a320 set to auto) along with main ones. Main lights off depends on alt and airline. Strobe stays on until arrival and turning off runway.

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Correct. Normally used to check for icing.

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A320 sim pilot does a video on lights

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Yep, that A320 SimPilot Youtube is the best video on lights, I have come across. Highly recommend (as the rest of his vids as well).

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Only required between sunset and sunrise and hence some airlines aren’t using the nav lights during daytime.

Is that generally down to airline policy?

Yes. Some aircraft don’t even have nav lights.

My question about GA lights when do you turn landing lights off, say…you are doing cruise altitude 8000 ft and visa versa turn them on, when you start to descend. It maybe stupid question .

Landing lights are also company policy dependant. There are no fixed rules.
Most airliners are turning them on below 10000ft.

If it would be my own aircraft and I would cruise below 10000ft, I would certainly not use them the whole time!
Usually only in the vicinity of the airport.

Turning on the landing lights can e.g. be used as a reminder that you have received the landing clearance :wink:

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Thank you that clears it up…much appreciated

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Is there a rule (of thumb) at which point the airport elevation comes into play? I landed at an airport somewhere in the Andes whose elevation is more than 10,000 ft. and was unsure how to handle the landing lights. I believe I turned them on at like 1,000 ft. finally.

Light are a very tricky subject. I strongly recommend to not take to seriously in flight sim, because it could cause a lot of confusion and headache^^. What a lot of people completely ignore is the fact, that there are a lot of official regulations (like law) that differ from country to country. And also the regulations make sometimes differences between commercial and non commercial flights. There are then also airline policies, which cannot overrule law. It is not unlike street traffic. In some contries you must siwtch on light in winter months, in some not. Same for plane. And in GA plane you sometimes just dont have to use landing lights at all, just for instance. So some GA planes dont even have enough battery and altenator power to fly with long with every light switch on. And so one. And you can see in this topic here, like people use terms differently. A lot of people use the term wing lights for the Ice Lights and obviously some are talking about the NAV lights. Two completely different things^^. So be carefully what considering as right and wrong, and dont but tooooo much emphasis in it in the simulator, otherwise you really would have to dig into law of every region you are flying in^^.

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