Another episode from the series MC-21. World of Aircraft of the 21st Century is dedicated to the beacons and headlights of the MC-21-300 aircraft. Always shine, shine everywhere! Here is the slogan of the plane. Firstly, so that you can see where you are flying and going. And secondly, to be visible yourself. Unlike beacons, aircraft headlights shine with an even white light. With it, the path is seen much better.

What are taxi lights for? How to scare birds away with aircraft landing lights? Yuri Pushkarev, a leading engineer for testing lighting equipment at Irkut Corporation, tells about this.

Before taxiing, while still in the parking lot, the crew turns on the aeronautical lights. There is a red beacon on the left wing, and a green one on the right. This is done so that in the dark, when the outlines of the aircraft are difficult to distinguish, by the color of these lights to determine where the ship is and in which direction it is moving. The pilots joke that it is very easy to remember the location of the aeronautical lights. On the left sits the commander, which means - "red", and on the right - the younger pilot, which means - "green".

What are taxi lights for? How to scare birds away with aircraft landing lights? Yuri Pushkarev, a leading engineer for testing lighting equipment at Irkut Corporation, tells about this.

Before taxiing, while still in the parking lot, the crew turns on the aeronautical lights. There is a red beacon on the left wing, and a green one on the right. This is done so that in the dark, when the outlines of the aircraft are difficult to distinguish, by the color of these lights to determine where the ship is and in which direction it is moving. The pilots joke that it is very easy to remember the location of the aeronautical lights. On the left sits the commander, which means - "red", and on the right - the younger pilot, which means - "green".

These lights have two modes. On the ground, they do not shine too brightly, so that the aircraft maintenance personnel are comfortable. The crew turns on the beacons at full power in flight. In the event of a flight in cloudy or rain conditions, they switch the lights to a low power mode so that the light from the beacons, reflecting from water droplets, does not interfere with the crew in flight.

For a more complete coverage of the zones around the aircraft, pulse beacons are installed on the wingtips of the MC-21 under protective glass. Another one is located in the tail of the plane. They blink with bright white light, these are three short successive flashes.

These lights have two modes. On the ground, they do not shine too brightly, so that the aircraft maintenance personnel are comfortable. The crew turns on the beacons at full power in flight. In the event of a flight in cloudy or rain conditions, they switch the lights to a low power mode so that the light from the beacons, reflecting from water droplets, does not interfere with the crew in flight.

For a more complete coverage of the zones around the aircraft, pulse beacons are installed on the wingtips of the MC-21 under protective glass. Another one is located in the tail of the plane. They blink with bright white light, these are three short successive flashes.

The taxiing lights are switched on before driving. They are mounted on the front chassis support and rotate with it. The task of the taxi lights is to illuminate the runway and taxiways as the aircraft moves around the airfield. They also illuminate the runway during takeoff and landing. Disabled automatically when the landing gear is retracted.

In order for the pilots to clearly see during taxiing what happens when turning from the runway onto the taxiways, the aircraft also has headlights, which are called “lane turn lights”.

The most powerful headlights on an airplane are landing lights, which, despite their name, also work during takeoff. They are 12 times brighter than taxi drivers, so they turn them on directly on the lane so as not to inadvertently dazzle anyone.

After takeoff, pilots often leave these lights on until the aircraft leaves the area above the airport. This is where traffic is most intense, and planes should be as visible as possible. By the way, these headlights are enough to break through thick fog.

With the help of landing lights, the MC-21 can not only illuminate the runway, but also scare away birds during landing. This is the first time this feature is being used on passenger aircraft. The pilot can manually switch the landing lights to flash mode. Their blinking frequency is specially selected to scare away birds.

In this mode, the headlights work in anti-phase, if one lights up, the second goes out at this moment. This way the runway is always lit. And just before landing, the headlights automatically switch to a constant burning mode so as not to distract the pilot.

Today planes, of course, are equipped with automatic anti-icing systems, however, it will not hurt to take another look and make sure that everything works. In the event of exposure to natural icing conditions, the crew must observe how ice builds up on the wing edges and on the air intake. This is done by headlights illuminating these surfaces.

And a little about aesthetics. The aircraft also has headlights, which are mainly responsible for its presentability. Each aircraft has an airline logo on its tail. In our case, this is the emblem with the name of the aircraft. And the business card should always be in sight. Now this aircraft is definitely not to be confused with any other.