Page 7 - May 25

on for avoidance purposes. A bonus of never turning
this switch off is that when I put an airplane away at
the end of each flight, as I’m walking away from it
on the ramp or about to close the hangar door, I can
look back one last time and look for that flashing light
indicating that I neglected to turn off my master battery
power. I hate to admit (or maybe am happy to admit)
that this method has prevented my return to a dead
battery more than once in my almost three decades of
flying when, in my post-flight haste to be somewhere
else, I forgot this critical step in the checklist.
Nav lights: Navigation or position lights are the red,
green and white lights found on the wingtips and tail of
your aircraft that are supposed to give another pilot a
visual indication of your direction at night when they
spot you as traffic. The FAA says these lights must
be on from sunset to sunrise. In practice, this is the
other dusty switch for which I am a proponent. If they
are not already on because they have been left that
way, the nav lights come on as soon as I apply battery
power to the aircraft.
Why? Because I like for others in the vicinity of the
aircraft to know that there is power to it and that an
engine start may be forthcoming. These lights cover
almost all angles of view for a passing person and let
them know not to get too close to the aircraft without
first getting the pilot’s attention in the cockpit. If I am
in an aircraft without a dedicated beacon light, these
are the lights I leave on instead as I walk away from
the aircraft, just for that look back that lets me sleep
easier that night, knowing I didn’t forget to turn the
battery master off.
Taxi light: This is an easy one. Turn it on when
you’re ready to taxi, day or night. The easiest way to
let a lineman or marshaller know that you are ready
to leave your spot on the ramp is to flash the taxi light
several times, then leave it on. This simple practice
prevents you from looking like a drowning person
waving for help as you try to get their attention through
the window, for which they may not be able to see you
because of glare or darkness. Leaving the light on as
you taxi, even during the day, stands a good chance
of catching the attention and preventing a slightly
inattentive pilot from taxiing in front of you as they
approach an intersecting taxiway. Turn this light off
when you reach the runup or ramp area at the end of
your taxi.
Landing light: This is a light I use differently based
on whether I am approaching a controlled or non-
controlled airport, and this light has saved me lots of
frequency air time over the years. Let’s start first and
foremost with what the regulations say. The FARs state
a landing light must be operable for aircraft operations
for hire at night. We can all get a little lax on checking
this light in the summertime when days are long and
night currency is difficult to keep. I challenge you to
make this a part of your day and night flight preflight
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King Air Nation
MAY 2025 KING AIR MAGAZINE •
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