Strobe visibility

[JayTea26]

For my Mavic Air 2 in order to fly a half hour before and after sunset do I need a strobe white light visible for three miles? If so, do I put it on the right front arm, thus the direction I’m flying to.

 

[Hauptmann]

You need nav strobes: red, left front; green, right front; white, rear. These must be visible for 3 miles.

 

[boblui]

Is that a requirement by law ? Where do you get the lights ?

 

[theDRONEranger]

First, you are right to inquire. Yes, adequate lighting is required for the times you refer to. Second, there is no specific color requirement for strobes. The strobes on your drone may very well be adequate for you already. The above posting is a recommendation to assimilate the standardized aircraft lightings. Truth be told, whatever boats your float colors is up to you. 3 statute miles visibility in US of A, day or night, rain or shine! Many people use additional strobes for increased visibility.purposes. If you can see your drone with current strobes, you are good. The forum areas are full of recommendations for strobes and holders. A simple search will help you find your answer. The only caution I give, is you must decide placement so they would NOT interfere with photo/video graphic results. Just not on top.

 

[z28lt1]

This topic is a bit of a can of worms.
If you are a recreational flyer, there is no DIRECT FAA requirements for any type of lights to fly at any time of day. Although VLOS requirements mean you can't get far at night without lights. However, the FAA also requires you to follow safety guidelines from an established model aircraft organization or such. Those will almost certainly require lights that you can see and tell the orientation of the aircraft -- so you'll need some sort of colors or flashing sequence to figure that out. They do not need to be the standard green/red navigation lights. (which don't make as much sense on a quad copter than can fly in any direction).

As a Part 107 flyer, you are required to have anti-collision lights to fly at twilight (30 minutes before sunrise or 30 minutes after sunset). The FAA does not specify anything about anti-collision lights for UAS, but in general they must strobe/blink and be white or red. To get a Part 107 night waiver, you'll need anti-collision lights as well.

Note, as a recreational flyer, you won't get clearance to fly in controlled airspace outside of daytime, so in order to do so, you'll need to be in class G airspace.

So, all of that means --- get multiple strobes of different colors and put them where you can see them and figure out how the drone is flying if you are a recreational flyer.

 

[Vic Moss]

You need nav strobes: red, left front; green, right front; white, rear. These must be visible for 3 miles.

No, directional strobes are only required for manned aviation. Please make sure you understand that actual regs before you post. Bad information causes too many problems in this community.

The two answers below yours have the correct information. You might want to read those so you know the actual rules.

 

[hiflyer201]

Since the FAA will accept a red rotating beacon or white stobe lights as part of the required "Anti Collision Lights" on an aircraft (night). I would think any DJI drone with all it's blinking lights would qualify but I'm certainly not the final word on that. You don't need standard position lights but for your own orientation you should know the location of the lights on your drone..you can turn off the front red lighting when using the camera and that's caused me concern a few times when I forget that's why I can't see it. I'm thinking that the white landing light is going to be very handy.
Three miles visibility is required for VFR flight in aircraft. "visual flight rules" I'm not so sure you can see all strobes at three miles.
This is going to be long ..bear with me..
It's better to scan at night. You have a blind spot directly forward. The Cones and Rods in your eyes take time for adjustment. The cones take about 10 minutes and you will be able to see about 100 times better than first entering darkness. The Rods take another 30 minutes or so and you will be able to see 100,000 times better..it only takes seconds to destroy that.

 

[theDRONEranger]

Since the FAA will accept a red rotating beacon or white stobe lights as part of the required "Anti Collision Lights" on an aircraft (night). I would think any DJI drone with all it's blinking lights would qualify but I'm certainly not the final word on that. You don't need standard position lights but for your own orientation you should know the location of the lights on your drone..you can turn off the front red lighting when using the camera and that's caused me concern a few times when I forget that's why I can't see it. I'm thinking that the white landing light is going to be very handy.
Three miles visibility is required for VFR flight in aircraft. "visual flight rules" I'm not so sure you can see all strobes at three miles.
This is going to be long ..bear with me..
It's better to scan at night. You have a blind spot directly forward. The Cones and Rods in your eyes take time for adjustment. The cones take about 10 minutes and you will be able to see about 100 times better than first entering darkness. The Rods take another 30 minutes or so and you will be able to see 100,000 times better..it only takes seconds to destroy that.

They do! If you can maintain your VLOS @ 3sm max.