Sec. 25.1401 - Anticollision light system.

(a) General. The airplane must have an anticollision light system that --

(1) Consists of one or more approved anticollision lights located so that their light will not impair the crew's vision or detract from the conspicuity of the position lights; and

(2) Meets the requirements of paragraphs (b) through (f) of this section.

(b) Field of coverage. The system must consist of enough lights to illuminate the vital areas around the airplane considering the physical configuration and flight characteristics of the airplane. The field of coverage must extend in each direction within at least 75 degrees above and 75 degrees below the horizontal plane of the airplane, except that a solid angle or angles of obstructed visibility totaling not more than 0.03 steradians is allowable within a solid angle equal to 0.15 steradians centered about the longitudinal axis in the rearward direction.

(c) Flashing characteristics. The arrangement of the system, that is, the number of light sources, beam width, speed of rotation, and other characteristics, must give an effective flash frequency of not less than 40, nor more than 100 cycles per minute. The effective flash frequency is the frequency at which the airplane's complete anticollision light system is observed from a distance, and applies to each sector of light including any overlaps that exist when the system consists of more than one light source. In overlaps, flash frequencies may exceed 100, but not 180 cycles per minute.

(d) Color. Each anticollision light must be either aviation red or aviation white and must meet the applicable requirements of §25.1397.

(e) Light intensity. The minimum light intensities in all vertical planes, measured with the red filter (if used) and expressed in terms of "effective" intensities, must meet the requirements of paragraph (f) of this section. The following relation must be assumed:

where:

Ie=effective intensity (candles).

I(t)=instantaneous intensity as a function of time.

t2 -- t1=flash time interval (seconds).
 

Normally, the maximum value of effective intensity is obtained when t2 and t1 are chosen so that the effective intensity is equal to the instantaneous intensity at t2 and t1.

(f) Minimum effective intensities for anticollision lights. Each anticollision light effective intensity must equal or exceed the applicable values in the following table. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Effective
          Angle above or below the horizontal plane            intensity
                                                               (candles)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
0° to 5°..........................................         400
5° to 10°.........................................         240
10° to 20°........................................          80
20° to 30°........................................          40
30° to 75°........................................          20
------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Doc. No. 5066, 29 FR 18291, Dec. 24, 1964, as amended by Amdt. 25-27, 36 FR 12972, July 10, 1971; Amdt. 25-41, 42 FR 36970, July 18, 1977]