Getting older, high intensity lights too bright!

[Jthamilton]

So almost 20 years ago when I would ride left seat as a medic in the Dauphin we flew, I could barely see the gauges at night.

Our older well seasoned pilots would all just barely keep the lights lit inside. Of course a lot of this was to help their night vision, but damn they were barely lit at all. If we flew to a small airport the lights would hardly be on also. However when I first got my ticket around 13 years ago I loved those runway and instrument light to be lit up as bright as I could have them, until tonight.

I don't fly much at all in the dark here since moving to the mountains and was just flying back to Steamboat from local airport tonight when I I found myself turning down my interior lights. I activated the runway light and turned final and thought, crap those lights are bright. Then it struck me that I'm getting older. There could be no other explanation!

 

[weilke]

Cataracts ;-)



Most PCL installations you can dim the lights by using 3 or 4 clicks, at a towered field you can ask them to dim the runway lights.

 

[jordane93]

You're not getting old. I'm 21 and think the high intensity lights are blinding.

 

[Jthamilton]

Cataracts ;-)



Most PCL installations you can dim the lights by using 3 or 4 clicks, at a towered field you can ask them to dim the runway lights.

Oh, I'm aware and that's exactly what I did. This getting older just sucks. As soon as I posted last night I learned my best friend growing up had heart attack yesterday but thankfully is doing well.

 

[weilke]

Oh, I'm aware and that's exactly what I did. This getting older just sucks. As soon as I posted last night I learned my best friend growing up had heart attack yesterday but thankfully is doing well.

I work in a hospital. The birthdates of patients with nasty diseases are creeping up on me.....

 

[Dan Thomas]

Cataracts ;-)

Yup. Cataracts scatter the light inside the eyeball and confuse things. Even when younger I preferred the lights lower because most older light aircraft windshields had "cataracts;" a haze of fine scratches that scattered the light and made the runway harder to see.

Dan

 

[Zeldman]

Oh, I'm aware and that's exactly what I did. This getting older just sucks. As soon as I posted last night I learned my best friend growing up had heart attack yesterday but thankfully is doing well.

Yes, yes it does.

Happy to hear your buddy is doing well.

 

[Richard]

In case anyone hasn't made the connection, get your eyes checked. A full exam.

Before the surgery (melanoma on eye), bright lights were very painful. Post-op, the intensity of lights, even the high beams of opposite traffic on a very dark night, was manageable and did not cause pain.