Checklists: What color font for red light situations?

[AggieMike88]

When flying at night with red light providing cockpit illumination, what color of font would provide us the most contrast for our white background checklists?

I'm sure the military has the best answer for this, but my google-fu wasn't strong enough today to find the answer quickly.

 

[acluffpoa]

I always used blue light in military operations because there were far too many red markings and symbols on tactical maps that disappear under red light. Black text has always worked best for me even when using red lighting.

 

[James331]

I forget what color, but highlights will somewhat glow under red lights.

 

[bobmrg]

"2. In darkness, vision becomes more sensitive to light, a process called dark adaptation. Although exposure to total darkness for at least 30 minutes is required for complete dark adaptation, a pilot can achieve a moderate degree of dark adaptation within 20 minutes under dim red cockpit lighting. Since red light severely distorts colors, especially on aeronautical charts, and can cause serious difficulty in focusing the eyes on objects inside the aircraft, its use is advisable only where optimum outside night vision capability is necessary. Even so, white cockpit lighting must be available when needed for map and instrument reading, especially under IFR conditions. Dark adaptation is impaired by exposure to cabin pressure altitudes above 5,000 feet, carbon monoxide inhaled in smoking and from exhaust fumes, deficiency of Vitamin A in the diet, and by prolonged exposure to bright sunlight. Since any degree of dark adaptation is lost within a few seconds of viewing a bright light, a pilot should close one eye when using a light to preserve some degree of night vision."

I'm partial to green light.

Bob Gardner

 

[cowman]

put the checklist on your ipad.

 

[MAKG1]

Any dark blue, green, or black will appear black in red light.

Black is the all purpose color. If you use blue light, it's still black.

 

[AggieMike88]

put the checklist on your ipad.

As much as this is a good choice, this is for a club aircraft. And not all members have an iPad.

 

[Edgefly]

I think the OP has an excellent question here. It probably has several answers depending on the sophistication of the display equipment already installed in the aircraft. Hope there are some real display experts who will address his basic question. Personally, I think well organized checklists are important to every phase of pilotage and that they should be used and useable consistently in all flight scenarios. By the way Aggie-Mike iPad 1's are pretty cheap now. Maybe your club would be willing to split the cost of an old iPad and you can find a computer geek to load the checklists so they are available to all.

 

[BillTIZ]

I always used blue light in military operations because there were far too many red markings and symbols on tactical maps that disappear under red light. Black text has always worked best for me even when using red lighting.

We had to adapt our cockpit to NVG green compatible lighting.
Don't think I ever saw a blue light in the cockpit, except for a couple of caution lights "Cabin over 10,000".

 

[Gucci Pilot]

Red light, just stick with the black on white paper. Us heavy pilots don't get very "tactical" so all of the lights in my jet are white.