X-Mozilla-Keys:                                                                                 
Russell Kent wrote:

Bulent Aliev wrote:

Hi Paul, I have been thinking along the same lines. The only difference is that
you are doing something about it. My question is: what color instrument
lighting would be the best? Red, Green or just white?

Archie chimed in:

Here is another 2 cents:
When in the military, all instrument lights were red. Map lights were white. In
a recent discussion with a Navy optometrist at OSH, he told me that the trend
is going toward subdued white lighting. This is more important for the older
pilots. (is that us?)

Paul replied:

That's me for sure.

Map lights are white in order to preserve accurate color perception on color
maps.  Instrument illumination *was* red in order to preserve unaugmented night
vision.  More modern systems use the same technology as those flat blue-green
nightlights.  This is because (IIRC) the night vision systems used by pilots
today are less affected by blue-green light than by red light.

For instrumentation that has *colored* information (like the ASI), white light
should be used in order to preserve accurate color perception.  For instruments
that are strictly white-on-black or black-on-white, red light may be used.  I
would be leery of using both red and white instrumentation lighting together,
though, because of the subtle human factors issues.  In an environment where true
color is preserved, red means danger.  If one mixes true-color and false-color
(red lighting) I would be concerned that danger signals might get overlooked in
the scan.

Paul, you might try beveling the hole for the instrument in order to cut down on
the amount of light sent out into the cockpit.  That bright white ring around the
instrument doesn't add any information, and is going to affect your night vision.

Russell Kent

Good idea Russell I will give it a try. Some instruments also have about
a 1/8 pilot around the dial. This protrudes into the panel cutting the
area emitting the light. In a case like that one might want to space the
instrument back about 1/8 inch.

Paul Lamar
 
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