My Kis Cruiser - Landing Lights

N247BR

Landing Lights

I decided to use high intensity auto accessory lights for my landing lights. These have a combination of high and low beams which should work very well as landing and taxi lights.

The opening for the landing light has been cut. The leading edge material was retained and the plan is to use that material to build the mounting for the landing light lense.

I cut cut an opening in the leading wing spar for insertion of a nut plate made from phenolic block. This was bonded into place with adhesive.

Since the material remove from the leading edge was the exact shape that was needed for forming the mounting of the lense, I cut the leading edge into six pieces. Two of those were bonded together to make the required thickness for matching the plexiglass lense. Those two pieces were bonded inside the wing to form the edges shown.

The edges were cleaned up and sanded to fit after bonding.

Next I cut straight, flat strips of glass and those were bonded to the top and bottom at the back and filled.

The final bonding is cleaned and sanded. The lense will next be tape in place and holes drilled for the mounting nuts

This is where life got in the way and progress stopped. I have finally stated to continue working on this and while the photo doesn't show much of a change, I have added glass to the inside to add strength to the mounting surface and added barriers at each end to enclose the opening. A little sanding and primer and we are done. You can also see the wiring is now run. I will add some more as I progress.

The original choice for a landing and taxi light were a combination halogen unit from Pilot. They looked great and were a perfect fit. Original choice because as it turned out, I knocked one of the units off of a top shelf above my work bench and it hit the floor and shattered the lens. No problem I would just order a replacement. WRONG!!!

This combination is no longer available and I have not found a suitable replacement. Looks like I will have to substantially modify the opening to get a pair of halogen units to fit.

The entire opening in the wing was designed for the PILOT Dual lights and finding a substitute proved to be more interesting that I had anticipated.

I really wanted to go with an LED system but none of the ones I could find would fit the opening or they wanted an arm, leg, and my first born to pay for them.

I ended up picking out two different halogen lights. One pair was spot beams that I am using as the landing lights. The second pair are fog lights and will be used for taxi. I don't like them and I had to do major surgery on the opening to get them to fit.

I will try these for the initial setup and will dress them up some to hide the opening and frame after I adjust the beams and fly with them some.

The important thing is that they work and put out a good clear beam. I will have to be careful though to not run them for extended periods of time due to the heat generation from the halogen lights.

I decided to use high intensity auto accessory lights for my landing lights. These have a combination of high and low beams which should work very well as landing and taxi lights.

	The opening for the landing light has been cut. The leading edge material was retained and the plan is to use that material to build the mounting for the landing light lense.
	I cut cut an opening in the leading wing spar for insertion of a nut plate made from phenolic block. This was bonded into place with adhesive.
	Since the material remove from the leading edge was the exact shape that was needed for forming the mounting of the lense, I cut the leading edge into six pieces. Two of those were bonded together to make the required thickness for matching the plexiglass lense. Those two pieces were bonded inside the wing to form the edges shown.
	The edges were cleaned up and sanded to fit after bonding. Next I cut straight, flat strips of glass and those were bonded to the top and bottom at the back and filled.
	The final bonding is cleaned and sanded. The lense will next be tape in place and holes drilled for the mounting nuts
	This is where life got in the way and progress stopped. I have finally stated to continue working on this and while the photo doesn't show much of a change, I have added glass to the inside to add strength to the mounting surface and added barriers at each end to enclose the opening. A little sanding and primer and we are done. You can also see the wiring is now run. I will add some more as I progress.
	The original choice for a landing and taxi light were a combination halogen unit from Pilot. They looked great and were a perfect fit. Original choice because as it turned out, I knocked one of the units off of a top shelf above my work bench and it hit the floor and shattered the lens. No problem I would just order a replacement. WRONG!!! This combination is no longer available and I have not found a suitable replacement. Looks like I will have to substantially modify the opening to get a pair of halogen units to fit.
	The entire opening in the wing was designed for the PILOT Dual lights and finding a substitute proved to be more interesting that I had anticipated. I really wanted to go with an LED system but none of the ones I could find would fit the opening or they wanted an arm, leg, and my first born to pay for them.
	I ended up picking out two different halogen lights. One pair was spot beams that I am using as the landing lights. The second pair are fog lights and will be used for taxi. I don't like them and I had to do major surgery on the opening to get them to fit.
	I will try these for the initial setup and will dress them up some to hide the opening and frame after I adjust the beams and fly with them some. The important thing is that they work and put out a good clear beam. I will have to be careful though to not run them for extended periods of time due to the heat generation from the halogen lights.