[BC] KFI Tower and a few FACTS!

[Kirk Harnack]

Paul Smith W4KNX wrote:
> Strobes wouldnt have helped at all.  As a pilot of many years experience I
> find towers painted aviation orange and white are by far the easiest to see
> in all kinds of visibilty situations except nite, and red side lites and
> beacons are far better than strobes at nite.  Stobes at nite seem to jump
> all over the place.  You cant get a good fix on their location from the air.

Paul, as a fellow pilot and tower lighting afficianado, I notice a HUGE 
percentage of tower strobes that operate in the DAY mode at night.  In 
DAY mode, the strobes will pulse just once each time.  This mode seen at 
night is horribly misleading, even when standing still on the ground.

If you can see any of the tower structure at night, from residual light, 
then the effect is not so awfully bad.  But if you cannot see the 
structure holding the strobes, and they're in DAY mode, then it's almost 
impossible to get a visual position fix on the tower.

When operating properly in NIGHT mode, strobes - red or white - pulse a 
number of times - long enough for your eye to get fix.

A few years ago, while driving from Greenville, MS, to Little Rock, AR, 
I observed 10 towers operating with DAY strobes at night.

Once I asked a county EOC official why his tower's strobes were stuck in 
DAY mode.  He said, "oh, we figured they're brighter that way and folks 
can see the tower better."   An explaination of nighttime light source 
acquisition seemed to persuade him to operate them properly.

I'll agree that pained towers are easier to spot, especially on hazy 
days, than are unpainted, strobed towers.

Kirk Harnack