It’s not often that I see a product that just stops me in my tracks, but upon entering Hangar B, I was like a deer caught in the headlights (literally). The AveoFlash LED lighting system from AveoEngineering shows just what can be done when high-intensity LEDs meet seasoned engineers who are given free rein to design “what pilots really want,” according to John Rossall of BAE Systems (that’s right, as in British Aerospace). The resulting AveoFlash line of airframe lighting leaves absolutely no doubt that Edison’s single-filament incandescent lamp, as good as it is, has finally seen better days.
The AveoEngineering booth was hard to miss, with the multiple high-intensity strobe bursts lighting up the entire row of vendors. Among the products on display was a combination wingtip position and strobe unit that was happily flashing away on a single, 9-volt transistor radio battery. This elegant unit is sealed in high-impact clear acrylic, contains everything including the strobe power supply, and directly replaces the traditional position/strobe assembly found on most wingtips. Gone are the separate strobe power supplies, delicate flash tubes and glass lenses, and high current drains. A pair of AveoFlash units draws only 250 milliamps, a small fraction of the power needed for traditional position and strobe lighting.
Available now for Experimentals, a red and green pair will set you back $600, will easily outlast the airframe, and may well be the only external airframe lighting units required when properly aligned on each wingtip. Each unit also contains rear-facing white LEDs, in addition to the side and rear strobes, and the front and side facing colored position lighting. There are only four wires to connect: ground, strobe power, nav power and a single blue wire that provides a sync pulse to any other Aveo strobes in use. Already certified in Europe, AveoEngineering anticipates U.S. STC approval in September of 2008.
For more information, visit AveoEngineering.
