Well, maybe

Just sat here on the PC and watching a DVD, have the window open and hear a plane outside so look out window to see a pretty low flying plane...

Anyway, as it's low you can see all the lights on it, including a big fook off one on front shining out....

I don't get this - light is nothing without reflection. You shine a light into a big black viod and it won't do anything unless it has something to reflect onto/from.

What is up in the sky apart from clouds that light from a plane will reflect?

 

I thought it was more for other aircraft to see them?!

 

change thread title as "interesting" shouldnt be in it IMO

 

exactly

 

Maybe its a landing light? If it was low it may have been landing shortly??

Alternativly maybe it is for flashing pilots in similar aircraft as they pass by prior to giving a cheesy grin and a thumbs up lol

 

Maybe they flash at each other, like cossies drivers

 

I did think that Jules, but it was facing the wrong way Maybe he's gonna do an emergency landing on the M25 instead

 

Maybe it wasn't a civilian aircraft and was landing at a top secret air base nearby
Fook me this topic doesn't get anymore interesting does it lol

 

Are you taking the piss out of me?

 

maybe it was an american plane carrying suspected terrorists and the light was on to give that 9/11 bloke on here the nod to start some more theories

 

at least while he's not getting a reflection he knows there's nothing in front of him (like a mountain).

 

Yup

 

maybe the pilot thinks he is cool with his fog light on when it aint foggy

 

coooooooo0nt

 

the gas ozone
btw light shined into a big black void will do something,, it will keep on traveling forever!

light hasnt a mass, so it never slows down, and simple keeps on going (but the frequancy of light does get lower,, this is known as the dopler effect, and this is how we measure that the universe is still expanding)

how many nerd points do i get?

 

You'd get full marks but there are 2 ps in Doppler

Now redshift off!

 

Yes the light will continue going, but without anything to reflect onto, you won't notice the light doing anything It won't illuminate the aurrounding area without an object to reflect on right?

 

That is the landing light,used when landing and at take off to illuminate the runway basically.Regards Micky

 

Isn't it also water vapour? Hence why visibility drops when humidity is higher - because the water vapour in the air disperses light?

 

Well the skies aren't empty, there is AIR, so particles that will reflect light. A void is just that.... a VOID...nothingness...

As for why they switch their lights on:
Pilots normally turn on all the landing and taxi lights before taxiing onto the runway for departure and turn them off again just after exiting the runway after landing. This is regardless of whether it is night or day, the purpose being to allow other aircraft to see us more easily. Although the lights do help illuminate the runway at night for takeoff and landing, it's even more important for other aircraft to be able to spot us easily.

We have taxi lights specifically for taxiing at night, and some very busy airports have a directive for these lights to be on even in the daytime, again for improved visibility.

Not all planes have logo lights to display the name of the airline, but if installed they're normally turned on at night.

Generally it's a policy to turn the landing lights off after while climbing through a specific altitude, and to turn them on again descending through a certain altitude. Again, this is true night or day, making ourselves more visible to other aircraft at relatively low altitudes (lights are on usually up to 18,000 feet).

Some aircraft (Airbus, for example) have speed restrictions with regard to the operation of the landing lights and they'll usually be turned on or off usually passing through 10,000 feet. Below 10,000 feet aircraft are restricted to flying no faster than 250 knots for air traffic control purposes, and below 10,000 feet the speed limitation for the landing lights is met. This speed restriction for the lights has to do with how they extend and retract when they are turned on or off.

Hope this sheds some lights....

 

anyone would think your a pilot with all that sort of info

 

no just know where to look!!

 

up in the sky.......................................?

 

As said, the sky is not a void, it's nowhere near pitch black.

 

Alloy - I didn't say it was pitch black tho?

Frog - smug git

 

it will reflect off the slightest cloud or vapour/smoke haze

they dont use it to see where they are going i dont think..

Not Until they get so close to the runway they can see how high they are when the instruments are no longer useful (below 20-30feet?)

 

Doesn't matter, it has particles to reflect from. The important word is VOID!! or not in this case

*Cough* MrsFrog for you please *Cough*

 

Shit the bed

 

Never mind the lights has any checked to make sure its running castrol RS oil to stop it detting

 

I was using "big black void" in my first post as an extreme example - not an insinuation that the sky is a big black void

Oh and sorry MRS Frog