uAvionics Tailbeacon install on J

[Rsmithref]

I’m in need of a little info and advice please.  I have finally got my Tailbeacon and am ready to install.  However, I have realized that my tail recognition light is a strobe, which is part of my three point wingtip strobes.  This is an original factory setup.  Is this normal?  I really don’t want to use my strobes all the time.  Am I missing something or is this what everyone does?

1990 M20J MSE

thanks for your help

[LANCECASPER]

6 hours ago, Rsmithref said:

I’m in need of a little info and advice please.  I have finally got my Tailbeacon and am ready to install.  However, I have realized that my tail recognition light is a strobe, which is part of my three point wingtip strobes.  This is an original factory setup.  Is this normal?  I really don’t want to use my strobes all the time.  Am I missing something or is this what everyone does?

1990 M20J MSE

thanks for your help

I believe the tail beacon is just a position light and not a strobe. (https://uavionix.com/products/tailbeacon/)

Just make sure you don't connect your strobe power to it or you will blow the device. This also give you an opportunity to remove the strobe power supply and save a pound or two. (I believe you have a separate tail strobe power supply under the inspection panel below the pilot side horizontal stabilizer.)

[PT20J]

It’s a strobe. My MSE has a strobe in each wingtip and one on the rudder. The white position lights are in the wingtips.

[jetdriven]

Your plane wont be legal now as it needs the tail strobe to have 360 coverage.

[PT20J]

Per the POH, 3 strobes are required for night, so I guess you’d be OK if you only want to fly during the day.

[jetdriven]

It’s not a POH issue it’s a FAR compliance issue. You’re required to have 360° anti-collision light system. And if you don’t have the tail strobe that takes you out of that and you’re not not allowed to defer it either for daytime. I don’t know who started to install this tail beacon, but they should’ve looked at the installation and be familiar with the rules before they modify the aircraft in a way that it can’t be flown. And the STC says you’re supposed to wire to the NAV lights, but there’s no wire to the tail for the NAV lights because those are the wing tips so now they have to pull the wire to the tail and then they have to figure out the anticollision light problem. Really the thing is the tail beacon really isn’t for a Mooney class of Aircraft is more for a Cessna 150 or some other cheap flight trainer airplane.  

[Rsmithref]

I have not started install yet, when I hit this snag I reached out for advice. The tailbeacon is a strobe also, would that not meet the requirements?  Ok, Im hitting the brakes until I get it figured out. 
Thanks to everyone for commenting. 
I just thought I had seen these on other J’s. Was trying to get compliant till I can get in for upgrades. 

[EricJ]

12 minutes ago, Rsmithref said:

I have not started install yet, when I hit this snag I reached out for advice. The tailbeacon is a strobe also, would that not meet the requirements?

It probably would.   The STC and/or installation manual should have some guidance.

12 minutes ago, Rsmithref said:

Ok, Im hitting the brakes until I get it figured out. 
Thanks to everyone for commenting. 
I just thought I had seen these on other J’s. Was trying to get compliant till I can get in for upgrades. 

They're on all kinds of airplanes.    I saw one on a beautifully restored Grumman Tigercat (WWII twin-engine fighter).

[jetdriven]

The tail beacon is compliant as a Nav light but not a strobe.  And the enclosed wing tips shield those from the rear so you have to have a rear facing strobe light and this thing goes in the place of that so there’s really no way to get there from here with this Aircraft.

[dzeleski]

I went with a GDL 82 for this reason. Assuming you stay under 18,000ft it’s fairly cost effective and I have had zero issues with it since install.

[MikeOH]

I have the TailBeacon (no strobe, just white light) on my M20F and have been VERY happy.  It was, by far, the lowest cost solution to the mandate.

As jetdriven pointed out, the key element is 360 degree coverage.  If your wingtip strobes are enclosed then they are insufficient to provide the required 360 degree coverage and a tail strobe is required.  If, however, the wingtip strobes PROTRUDE (i.e. the lens is visible from front, side, and rear) then you have 360 degree coverage WITHOUT needing a tail strobe. This is my configuration.

This Whelen document summaries things nicely:

 

[EricJ]

1 hour ago, Rsmithref said:

I have not started install yet, when I hit this snag I reached out for advice. The tailbeacon is a strobe also, would that not meet the requirements?  Ok, Im hitting the brakes 

Looking at the uavionix site, they say that the tailbeacon is not a strobe (I think some of the wingtip versions are).  

https://uavionix.com/products/tailbeacon/

[PT20J]

If you have a tail strobe then it’s there because it is required. The reason I mentioned the POH is because you are required to have one and so it is a readily available reference that everyone has access to. If you look in the Limitations section there is a Kinds of Operation Equipment List that will indicate that 3 strobes are required for night IFR or night VFR. None are required for daytime flight. The Limitations section of the POH is FAA Approved (check the page footer). So, operating at night without three strobes is a violation of FAR 91.9.

[MikeOH]

@PT20J

Do you know if that requirement is for ALL J model years?

[PT20J]

1 minute ago, MikeOH said:

@PT20J

Do you know if that requirement is for ALL J model years?

No, it depends. Some had a rotating beacon and only wingtip strobes. You have to check the POH.

[MikeOH]

3 minutes ago, PT20J said:

No, it depends. Some had a rotating beacon and only wingtip strobes. You have to check the POH.

Thanks.

Interesting as my 1970 F POH doesn't even require anything beyond position lights!  Obviously, superseded by the FARs to require anti-collision lights; my wingtip strobes.

[EricJ]

Just now, MikeOH said:

Thanks.

Interesting as my 1970 F POH doesn't even require anything beyond position lights!  Obviously, superseded by the FARs to require anti-collision lights; my wingtip strobes.

There were rule changes that allowed a number of configurations.   Basically there are multiple ways to meet the requirements to have various lighting visible 360-degrees.   My early J with flush wingtips has no rotating beacon, and the protruding strobes on each wingtip, and a regular white nav light on the tail.   When the covered/faired wingtips came out it added some different configurations for the tail to get strobe coverage if that was desired.  So some just have strobes on the wingtips, some in three locations.

[MikeOH]

4 minutes ago, EricJ said:

There were rule changes that allowed a number of configurations.   Basically there are multiple ways to meet the requirements to have various lighting visible 360-degrees.   My early J with flush wingtips has no rotating beacon, and the protruding strobes on each wingtip, and a regular white nav light on the tail.   When the covered/faired wingtips came out it added some different configurations for the tail to get strobe coverage if that was desired.  So some just have strobes on the wingtips, some in three locations.

Yeah, this whole topic seems incredibly complex for what it is; per the Whelen reference I posted earlier there were several rules changes, including one in 1971.  Then you've got (maybe) POH requirements, too.

My aircraft, like yours, doesn't have a rotating beacon, either.

[PT20J]

Maybe the Fs didn't have rotating beacons and the 77J (which was essentially an F with aerodynamic mods) didn't either. There were a bunch of changes made to the J in 1978. My 78J had a red Grimes coffee grinder on the belly.

The pertinent FAR for anticollision light requirements is 91.205 (c) (3). It essentially states that: 

1. An approved anticollision light system is required for night flight.

2. If the anticollision light system is initially installed after 8/11/71 on an aircraft type certified before 8/11/71, then it must only meet whatever the requirements were on 8/10/71.

[dzeleski]

6 minutes ago, PT20J said:

Maybe the Fs didn't have rotating beacons and the 77J (which was essentially an F with aerodynamic mods) didn't either. There were a bunch of changes made to the J in 1978. My 78J had a red Grimes coffee grinder on the belly.

The pertinent FAR for anticollision light requirements is 91.205 (c) (3). It essentially states that: 

1. An approved anticollision light system is required for night flight.

2. If the anticollision light system is initially installed after 8/11/71 on an aircraft type certified before 8/11/71, then it must only meet whatever the requirements were on 8/10/71.

My 77 J had a rotating beacon at one point (there is a patch where it would have been). I don’t know if it was factory installed. My J does have the added wingtips which does not allow the wing tip strobes to cover the rear of the plane and at that point the beacon was removed and a tail strobe/nav was added.

[Lax291]

I have a 1990 M20J MSE as well and have this "Mystery Switch" for the Rotating Beacon which is the black rocker in the picture.  I am 99.99999% positive there is no rotating beacon nor was one on the plane and wondering what this switch could have been?  @Rsmithref curious what your switches look like if no work have been done to them to see if they mirror mine.  I have flipped the switch and noticed no change in Amps either. 

I have to put the strobes on whenever I startup and leave them on until shutdown for anticollision.  Will eventually upgrade the tail to a combo anticollision/position https://www.gallagheraviationllc.com/WAT-28V-Orion-OR5002V-Tail-StrobePosition-Light_p_202.html.

[PT20J]

It appears that a couple of your switches have been replaced. The Boost Pump has a homemade legend. The Rot Bcn is black and surely not original. Might not even be for a rotating beacon. 

You are not required by FAR to use your strobes during the day, but many of us do. 

[OR75]

On 7/7/2024 at 9:58 AM, jetdriven said:

It’s not a POH issue it’s a FAR compliance issue. You’re required to have 360° anti-collision light system. And if you don’t have the tail strobe that takes you out of that and you’re not not allowed to defer it either for daytime. I don’t know who started to install this tail beacon, but they should’ve looked at the installation and be familiar with the rules before they modify the aircraft in a way that it can’t be flown. And the STC says you’re supposed to wire to the NAV lights, but there’s no wire to the tail for the NAV lights because those are the wing tips so now they have to pull the wire to the tail and then they have to figure out the anticollision light problem. Really the thing is the tail beacon really isn’t for a Mooney class of Aircraft is more for a Cessna 150 or some other cheap flight trainer airplane.  

I am not sure trainers are that cheap anymore ! I went and check ASO ... 45k for a 152 !! dang

[A64Pilot]

On 7/7/2024 at 1:12 PM, Rsmithref said:

I just thought I had seen these on other J’s. Was trying to get compliant till I can get in for upgrades. 

I have one on my J, to me it’s a beautiful solution, cheap, lightweight, reliable, easy install, requires no attention, just forget it’s there.

Leaving the Nav lights on all of the time isn’t an issue to me.

I do not believe the requirement is for 360 degrees of coverage but I’m no Aviation Lawyer either. I know my Factory wing tip strobes do not provide 360 coverage.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/25.1401

[MikeOH]

40 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

I have one on my J, to me it’s a beautiful solution, cheap, lightweight, reliable, easy install, requires no attention, just forget it’s there.

Leaving the Nav lights on all of the time isn’t an issue to me.

I do not believe the requirement is for 360 degrees of coverage but I’m no Aviation Lawyer either. I know my Factory wing tip strobes do not provide 360 coverage.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/25.1401

I agree, for me it was an elegant solution with the lowest possible cost. As you say, no big deal to leave the nav lights on.

However, I'm going to disagree with you on the need for 360 degree coverage; your cite of 12.1401 contains what I believe to be the pertinent requirement buried in subparagraph (b): "The field of coverage must extend in each direction...". To me, 'each direction' pretty clearly means 'all the way around the aircraft'. This is also consistent with the Whelen info I posted above: "An approved anti-collision strobe light system must project light 360 degrees around the aircraft's vertical axis. One or more strobe lights may be used". Seems pretty clear to me, but I'm no Aviation Lawyer, either