Do drones have lights? And what is the purpose of these lights, right? Yes, you must have noticed that several lights are blinking on a drone with different colors when a drone is flying. These lights are commonly Red, Yellow, Green & strong white.
This blog post will tell you why drones have lights on them and the purpose of those blinking lights at night. Keep reading to learn about drone lights.
Do Drones Have Lights?
There are three main types of lights used on drones, which are described below:
Navigational Lights:
Usually, these lights do not blink or strobe, so they are solid. The most common colors of these lights are red, green, and strong white. In the daytime and at night, these are the lights people see in drones.
Anti-collision lights:
These lights could be blinking lights or strobe lights/flashers. These lights usually come in green, red, and white colors. Drones use both navigational and anti-collision lights; interestingly, you don’t need to switch between them.
But it is important to differentiate between them. Anti-collision lights were a very big feature addition in the drone a few years back. But nowadays, all drones come with these anti-collision lights
Manufacturing companies mainly focus on advanced drone light systems that allow pilots to switch between lights to specify the light they want to use as navigation or anti-collision lights. So, this is quite helpful for the revolution of drones.
Drone Status Lights:
These lights are the warning lights that alert the pilot about the status and systematic errors of the drone. These lights come with yellow-green and red, blinking at different speeds to show the drone’s current status.
Are Drones Required To Have Lights?
The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation, and they oversee civil aviation within the United States of America. This department regulates the law of drones in the US. According to FFA drones must have lights when flying at night.
Requirements Of FFA About Drone Lights:
FFA has different laws and requirements for drone lights according to different times of the day. So if you want to fly a drone in the USA, be aware of these laws of FFA mentioned below:
Daylight:
According to the law of FFA, anti-collision lights are not required during daylight. The time zone of 30 minutes before sunrise and after sunset, drone anti-collision lights are compulsory for drone flights.
Morning And Evening Civil Twilight:
A morning civil twilight occurs before sunrise and before dawn in the morning.
After sunset, the evening civil light lasts an hour and a quarter. During twilight, anti-collision lights are required, according to FFA.
Night:
How to spot a drone at night, As we already explained the time between the beginning of morning civil twilight and the end of evening civil twilight. For the flights held during this time, anti-collision lights are required by FFA.
Why Do Drones Have Navigational Lights?
As the word navigation describes, the purpose of the light is to show the pilot where the drone is heading. It helps the pilot to fly the drone from a distance Usually, this light is red in color and mounted with the camera.
Navigational lights are compulsory during the flight of a drone to avoid any navigational problems and assist the pilot in navigating the drone perfectly at night.
Why Do Drones Require Flight Status Lights?
These lights are usually on the rear side of the drone, either on the arms or body. These lights show different colors and blinking patterns to show the status of the drone.
Some of the following patterns are given below:
Red:
This light shows critical errors like battery low or an IMU error.
Yellow:
Yellow lights usually indicate moderate errors like GPS loss or remote disconnect.
Green:
Do drones have green lights? Yes, green lights often use a success status that everything works properly on the drone-like GPS or the remote is connected successfully.
Why Do Drones Have Anti-Collision Lights?
These lights usually come with bright white LED lights so that they can be seen from a long distance. Anti-collision lights are brighter than flight status and navigational lights.
The anti-collision light’s main purpose is visibility at night to avoid any accident. So before flying at night, you must turn on anti-collision lights for the following reasons:
Helping Pilot:
Anti-collision lights give the pilot precise control of the drone while flying at night. However, drones have other lights like navigational or status lights, but anti-collision lights are brighter, which gives the pilot great visibility to fly a drone at night to avoid any drone crash.
Helping People:
These lights are also visible to people nearby you at that time, so the drone must be visible to other people like civilian authorities or other drone pilots. The drone is also visible to other drone pilots flying in the same area so they can avoid any collision. These lights also provide visibility to human-crewed aircraft to avoid any collision.
Safety Purpose:
If the drone is flying very high in the air or from a long distance, it could be harder for the pilot to spot the drone. So these lights can save the drone from crashing.
FFA regulations:
According to FFA regulations, all drone flights at night always attach anti-collision lights. These lights must be attached whether you are flying the drone for commercial purposes or recreational purposes. These lights must be visible from at least a distance of 3 miles.
This means your small, built-in drone lights won’t cut it. It would help if you did not avoid the FAA’s rules and regulations. If they catch you, they can confiscate your drone or do worse.
Tips Of Anti-Collision Lighting On Your Drone:
If you are looking to get anti-collision lights for your drone, here are some pro tips for you:
The Number Of Lights:
The first thing you need to understand is that every drone has its own shape and size, which depends on the manufacturer, company to company, or model to model, so you may need one light, two or more. But most of the drones use two lights which spread and give a brighter sight to the pilot.
Direction:
Before purchasing the light, you must be sure that the light is not focusing in only one direction, which could be problematic while flying a drone at night. Many companies manufacture drone lights that focus only in one direction, so you must confirm that lights should be spread in all directions.
Types Of Lights:
If you want to buy anti-collision lights for your drone, you must buy lights that switch from a solid light to a strobe light. This is a great feature. You can easily convert anti-collision lights into navigational lights with a single button click. It is also helpful when navigational lights fail. You can use them as anti-collision lights.
Weather:
It is very important to know what weather you choose to fly a drone. Your drone may face rain during flying, so your lights should be good enough that you can see your drone through rain and fog.
Battery Usage:
Drone lights usually consume high power from the battery. So you have to be aware of your flight time. Most drone experts prefer Lipo batteries that are rechargeable. I prefer these as they are LEDs which means they last longer and don’t affect the drone’s battery life.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, do drones have lights? There are mainly three types of drone lights status lights, anti-collision lights, and navigational lights or directional lights. Don’t fly your drone at night without turning on the lights which could be harmful for you and the people around that place.
These lights are for the safety of the drone and the people. Suppose a pilot is caught by authorities using a drone without lights on it. In that case, the drone could be seized temporarily or permanently.
FAQS:
What Does Drones Look Like At Night?
At night drone is seen with multiple lights like red, green, yellow, and white flying in the air like an airplane. These lights may be blinking lights or bright LED lights that could be seen from several miles away.
Do Drones Have Flashing White Lights?
You must be wondering does drones have lights. Yes, drones have multiple colors of light, such as red, yellow-green, and white in color. White lights are usually used as anti-collision lights that help the pilot see the drone flying at night to prevent any collision with an obstacle.
How Long Does A Drone Battery Last?
Drone battery timing depends upon the quality of the drone. Premium drones can fly for an average time of 25-30 minutes. Medium-quality drone flight ranges from 15-20 minutes. Toy drones can fly between 5-10 minutes.