Under this title we discuss the exterior lighting systems of the F-15E Strike Eagle. There are 5 types of lighting systems available: position (navigation) lights, anti-collision lights, formation lights, vertical tail flood lights and landing/taxi lights. They will be discussed below.

Note that illustrations in the article below do not necessarily belong to the topic which is discussed on the actual chapter. They are evenly placed in the article and they illustrate more than one chapters at a time.

Position (Navigation) Lights

These are standard red, green and white lights, attached to the farthest edges of the airframe, that is one on the forward edge each wingtips (green on the right and red on the left), and one (white) just below the tip of the left vertical tail fin. The role of these lights is simple: to highlight the position, size and closure (i.e. coming or going) of the F-15E at night or under low visibility conditions.

Positions lights can either be turned off by the pilot or can be set to continuous illumination (with 6 increasing brightness levels) or to blinking operation. Note that once the collision lights (see below) are turned on, the position lights automatically switch to full brightness, continuous operation.

Anti-Collision Lights

These are red lights designed to prevent collision of aircraft at night or under low visibility conditions. There are three of them: two on the wingroots (one on the leading edge of each wings just outboard of the air intakes) and one on the tip of the right vertical tail fin.

Anti-collision lights are blinking when operating (they are blinking in unison, regulated by the same flasher unit), but can be turned off by the pilot.

Formation Lights

These are yellow electroluminescent lightstrips designed to use during formation flying at night or under low visibility conditions. There are six of them: two on each wingtip behind the position lights, two on the left and right side of the forward fuselage just forward of the cockpit, and two on the left and right side of the aft fuselage just aft of the trailing edge of the wings.

Formation lights can either be turned off by the pilot, or can be set to continuous illumination (with 6 increasing brightness levels).

Vertical Tail Flood Lights

These are white floodlights (there are 2 of them) installed on the left and right aft fuselage to illuminate the vertical tails during night formation flying and join-ups.

They can either be turned off by the pilot or can be set to continuous operation with 2 levels of brightness (dim and bright).

Landing and Taxi Lights

These are white lights, located on the nose gear strut. Their task is to illuminate the ground in front of the jet during taxiing and landing.

Landing and taxi lights can be turned on and off separately by the pilot (once turned on they illuminate continuously), however they are both turned off automatically when the landing gear handle is in its up position (meaning the landing gear is scheduled to go up).

Exterior Light Controls

Exterior lights are controlled by the pilot via two panels on the left hand console in the cockpit: the exterior lights (EXT LT) panel and the miscellaneous (MISC) panel. The layout of the switches and knobs is illustrated on the following figure:

1 - Landing/Taxi Light Switch: This toggle switch is used to turn on either the landing light or the taxi light. Regardless of the switch's position, landing and taxi light is always off when the gear is up.

2 - Formation Lights Knob: This knob is used to manage formation lights. The illumination level of the formation light strips can be varied from 1 (dimmest) to 5 and BRT (brightest) and in can be turned off completely.

3 - Anti-Collision Lights Switch: This toggle switch is used to turn anti-collision lights on and off.

4 - Vertical Tail Flood Lights Switch: This switch is used to turn vertical tail flood lights off or set them to a lower (DIM) or a higher (BRT) illumination level.

5 - Position Lights Knob: This knob is used to manage position lights. The illumination level of the position lights can be varied from 1 (dimmest) to 5 and BRT (brightest) or they can be set to flashing (FLASH).

Sources

• F-15E Flight Manual TO 1F-15E-1 (courtesy of eFlightManuals.com)
• The Strike Eagle Forum 

Forum Discussion

You can discuss this article in the Strike Eagle Forum with the latest posts appearing here below as well. Clicking on the 'Discuss' button takes you to the SEF, while clicking on the 'Quick Post' text enables you to make a post here right away.

Article discussions are available for registered users only!