Aircraft Landing Lights FLASING?

Question

The other night (7:45pm) I noticed a plane coming into land at Manchester Airport and it's landing lights kept flashing on and off a approx. 2 second intervals. I am ex RAF and I have no idea what this could be, is there anyone out there who might know. It was a regular "flashing" and lasted for a minute (my range of sight) it was an aeroplane and not a UFO!!

Answer 1

Although you could dream up some exciting scenarios, flashing landing lights could only be caused by intentional, on-off or a short circuit.  A short circuit would create a random pattern unless it was associated with another system having a dedicated sequence.

My first thought was you may have witnessed a reflection of landing strobes but on a dry night, it would have been of lesser intensity and with an RAF background you probably would have recognized that.

Answer 2

You sure it was the landing lights, and not the strobes?

Answer 3

this is a feature to help tower identify craft during VOR approach tower will ask to strobe your lights, you put them on strobe during approach so they can distinguish between you on 65N and the approach on 115S

Answer 4

Morse code flashing, that's funny!  Lol.  Now for the real answer.  Some aircraft have flashing lights which make it easier for them to be seen by other aircraft.  Most corporate aircraft have this feature, but the pilot can use it or leave them on steady if he or she decides to.  Some airliners have this too, most notably, Southwest.  I used to work for a company with a fleet of over 130 aircraft, and only one had this feature.  Of course, you would never have this on an RAF plane, as being seen by others is usually not a goal of a military aircraft.

Answer 5

Other than the position lights (red & green on wings and white on tail and sometimes nose) the lights flash in morse sequence giving the last two letters of the radio call sign for that aeroplane.  Lighthouse lights do the same, giving a code letter that a seaman on watch can see which light house is in which direction.

Answer 6

A number of planes, especially kit/experimental, have the option for flashing landing lights.  I've also seen some kits for certificated aircraft as well... especially popular in wingtip mods.  Basically, it gives the pilot the option to have the landing light on stead or flashing.  Obviously, at night you would switch to steady as you're turning final.

It's actually amazing how well they work during the day even.  I've often spotted someone using them long before I spotted their strobes.  And, at night, I saw a Warrior [flown by Prudue University flight school] when I was about 20-30 miles out of Lafayette one time.

Answer 7

im nearly sure what u saw was a small corporate beach jet these are a common feature on these particular aircraft even  flight sim has them

Answer 8

landing lights are not used to make the aircraft more visible. They're used to help the pilot see. They have no identification purposes at all. That being said, its not Morse code, that's for sure.

Corporate jets sometimes do have the feature of flashing landing lights.

strobe lights and landing lights I think, will not be confused by ex-RAF.

I don't think many commercial airliners have a flashing landing like feature. I've been in many commercial jet cockpit's and not one had three settings for landings lights. They were either on or off.

maybe a circuit or wire was loose and was causing the flashing but that's really a long shot.

the most probable answer is that you were at an angle to the aircraft so that something, or the very design of the landing lights, only allowed you to see it from a specific angle. so, depending on aircraft movement, the light could have appeared to be flashing as it moved in and out of the range in which you could see the light. at night or during dusk, it is often difficult to notice something dark blocking a lighted or shining object.

Answer 9

I've seen that exact scenario too, a few months ago.  

Commercial airliner, on approach to Leeds/Bradford, at about 30 miles out with landing lights flashing on and off.

(I suppose it might be a dodgy contactor going in and out, but it seemed a bit too regular for that).

Answer 10

That flashing was designed to be better at scaring birds away.