Presenting . . . "Charlie" The Gulf Mooney - 1967 M20C N6767C

[Pinecone]

14 hours ago, AndreiC said:

It’s beautiful! The only criticism I have is that it may be hard to spot against a light blue sky background… but in this day and age ADS-B helps a whole lot more. (I used to have a plane painted in desert camouflage colors — I got it this way — and whenever someone complimented me on the paint scheme I’d tell them I’d prefer to be seen than hidden…)

A while ago, one of the car companies decided to do some testing to determine the best color for visibility of a car/light truck for all sorts of lighting and weather conditions.

They came up with a combination of white, red, yellow, light blue and a few other colors.  Nothing works perfectly.

[devyn6seven]

10 minutes ago, Pinecone said:

A while ago, one of the car companies decided to do some testing to determine the best color for visibility of a car/light truck for all sorts of lighting and weather conditions.

They came up with a combination of white, red, yellow, light blue and a few other colors.  Nothing works perfectly.

That's interesting. I read that BMW chose amber light for their dashboards for night visibility because it was easy on the eyes, and also what fighter planes used for night lighting.

I had visibility in mind but it wasn't the primary influence of my design choice. I wanted something that would make me smile whenever I looked at it, especially given the magnitude of the investment I was making. 

[Matthew P]

17 minutes ago, devyn6seven said:

Planes over 30 years old are considered vintage aircraft category and can keep the small numbers. However, if I want to fly internationally (which I don't) I'd have to vinyl on some 12" numbers. 

Thanks, I misread the change, glad to know as I'm getting my plane painted and didn't want the 12" I appreciate your time and the clarification

[Pinecone]

The A-10 had white lighting.  The figured out that 1) red looks dim because the eye is less sensitive, so people turned up the intensity until it nullified the benefits and 2)  most of the lights OUTSIDE (cities, town, other airplanes) are white anyway.

The rule of thumb is to adjust the instrument lighting to be about the same as the ambient lighting outside the cockpit.  It works well in cars also.

In cars, setting the interior (dash) lights lower would also let you know you don't have your headlights on, as the dash will be very bright.

[Shadrach]

48 minutes ago, Pinecone said:

The A-10 had white lighting.  The figured out that 1) red looks dim because the eye is less sensitive, so people turned up the intensity until it nullified the benefits and 2)  most of the lights OUTSIDE (cities, town, other airplanes) are white anyway.

The rule of thumb is to adjust the instrument lighting to be about the same as the ambient lighting outside the cockpit.  It works well in cars also.

In cars, setting the interior (dash) lights lower would also let you know you don't have your headlights on, as the dash will be very bright.

They need to develop something better than that. The unintended consequence of daytime running lights is the lack of a visual cue that the headlights are not on. The number of morons I see driving around with no tail lights at night and in inclement weather is concerning.

[devyn6seven]

9 minutes ago, Shadrach said:

They need to develop something better than that. The unintended consequence of daytime running lights is the lack of a visual cue that the headlights are not on. The number of morons I see driving around with no tail lights at night and in inclement weather is concerning.

Yup I've noticed that too. 

[Hank]

5 hours ago, Shadrach said:

They need to develop something better than that. The unintended consequence of daytime running lights is the lack of a visual cue that the headlights are not on. The number of morons I see driving around with no tail lights at night and in inclement weather is concerning.

There's a green headlight indicator on the tachometer of my Altima, not sure about the truck. Just turn the headlight switch to Auto, then leave it alone and it won't be a problem.

It can be annoying in early morning and evening, as the lights turn on and off depending on whether the car is pointing towards the sun, driving through shade, etc., which makes dashboard visibility change dramatically. Can always see the speed and tach, but the "information center" can fade away.

Our BMW back in the day had Red dashboard lights, not amber; I liked it because it didn't destroy my night vision, quite unlike my current white lights. Then again, I've never turned them up real bright (and still don't).

[Pinecone]

On 6/11/2024 at 10:57 AM, Shadrach said:

They need to develop something better than that. The unintended consequence of daytime running lights is the lack of a visual cue that the headlights are not on. The number of morons I see driving around with no tail lights at night and in inclement weather is concerning.

Most cars do have a green headlight lamp on the dash.

But agreed about the morons driving around with only the DRLs at night.  Maybe we just need to go to the what motorcycles have done for decades.  Just have the lights on all the time.

[Hank]

39 minutes ago, Pinecone said:

Most cars do have a green headlight lamp on the dash.

But agreed about the morons driving around with only the DRLs at night.  Maybe we just need to go to the what motorcycles have done for decades.  Just have the lights on all the time.

Tried that with daytime running lights. Now many use parking lights or "designer" LED strips, or like my car, turn off when it's bright out. I'm surprised by how many cars still do not have the AUTO setting on the lights.

In my Mooney, I just never turn off the LED landing light or the LED belly strobe. I've had pilots departing my destination in the evening ask what my lights are, as I'm very visible even with the original incandescent wingtip nav lights. 

[MooneyMitch]

On 6/11/2024 at 7:02 AM, devyn6seven said:

I wanted something that would make me smile whenever I looked at it

That’s really all that matters!