SonexBuilders.net

What's up guys, I'm just about done with my second wing, and getting ready to fit the wintip next. I noticed on another thread the other day (now I can't find it of course), someone mentioned they had issues getting their plane inspected because their wingtip lights weren't visible from above or something like that.

I already did the wingtip on my other wing, and I hadn't even thought about visibility from the top. I just located the light right in the middle of the fiberglass wingtip. I have the little gaugepod fairings that push the lights out a little, but I still don't think they'll be visible from above. I'll post a picture when I get home from work.

Is it really a requirement to have the lights visible from above? I didn't think lights were really even required in the first place, I was just doing it for extra safety!

If I do need lights visible from above, I guess my options would be to redo my first wingtip completely, relocate the light and patch the hole I cut in the fiberglass, or just leave it and add a third light on top of the fuselage or something!

Here are a couple pictures of the RH wingtip, which is the one I did a few months ago. The light isn't installed on the fairing here, but you can see it still won't really stick out past the top edge of the wing!

Yah - check the FARs for the angle of view rules for the wingtip lights. It is something like 30 (45? - can't remember) deg above and below and the white must be viewable also above and below and x (60?) deg from the tail center line.

Mounting the lights in the middle of a sonex wingtip won't cut it. For my wingtips I will be mounting the lights at the top edge with a little 3d printed fairing/mount.

Yeah I think you're right. I just did my other wingtip today, and I had to put the light mount all the way at the top/outboard edge for it to be visible from above. I'll post some pictures later. Now I'll have to go back and change the first one!!

These should help:
https://www.whelen.com/pb/Aviation/Syst ... ystems.pdf
https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/med ... 20-30B.pdf

Thanks for the info Mike!

I forgot to come back and post pictures. Here's how I did my left wing (the second wing I built):



This allows the light to peek out just past the top of the wing, so I think it'll be visible up to 90° above. This view is from the floor looking up, since the wing was upside down on the table:



To fix the right wingtip, I cut a new hole behind the updated light location first, so I could reach the back of the old hole through it. I used a piece of waxed aluminum plate as a backer on the outside, and then applied fiberglass on the inside of the old hole. I used a little fiberglass repair kit from Autozone, and I was able to get 12 layers out of the piece of fabric it came with. I think it turned out pretty sturdy, but it'll need some filling and sanding later. If I decide I really hate it I can fit a whole new wingtip later on, but this cost me $20 and like an hour versus $100+ and several hours to fit a new wingtip!

Also, I didn't really mean to post this in the Waiex forum since it isn't Waiex specific... If any mods want to move this thread somewhere more appropriate that's fine with me!