Query for pilots - 2 planes with odd lights

[Snoggledog]

I saw two planes flying overhead a couple of nights ago without port / starboard lights and only a red/orange light constantly lit underneath. Is it normal for planes to not have port /starboard lights lit?

As they were heading vaguely towards Northolt I'd say military but as it was night I couldn't say for sure. The other odd thing was how quiet they were. Normally military jets are fairly noisy. I'd be inclined to say that they were cruising at around 300-350 kts. Any ideas what they could have been?

[caelite]

The red light you are seeing is likely the beacon light, it is meant to be lit whenever the engines are running. However the nav lights really should have also been on if it was flying at night, I don't think I can be of any further help, are you sure the nav lights weren't occluded by the red beacon, the beacon does tend to be brighter.

[Markbarry1977]

Port and starboard lights can only be seen from the front. 120 Deg from the centre line each side.

If it was flying away from you, you can't see the nav lights. That way you can tell if it's flying towards you or not.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navigation_light#A...

If you read the the third paragraph of aircraft navigation lights it mentions that in good weather Anti col lights are recommended (not mandatory) so you wouldn't see the flashing white anti col lights on the wing tips either if they weren't switched on.

Edited by Markbarry1977 on Tuesday 8th August 22:49

Edited by Markbarry1977 on Tuesday 8th August 22:53

[Snoggledog]

Thanks chaps

Both planes were flying line astern with about (I'm guessing) a mile between them. As they were flying left to right and I was on their right I would have expected to see a starboard wing light but i couldn't see it at all. Caelite, you could well be right as the nav light was quite bright but then as there were clear skies I wouldn't normally expect to see a nav light. In 2012 a Typhoon was performing (for want of a better word) doughnuts over what used to be know as Strike Command and no nav lights were on. Mind you that was spectacularly loud and the sheets of flames from the engines were amazing so nav lights were sort of pointless.

I was just puzzled as to why two very quiet planes were running without any obvious signs of navigation lights

[Wobbegong]

You sure they weren't gliders?

[Snoggledog]

I seriously doubt that they were gliders as they were travelling reasonably quickly and it was gone 10pm so rather dark.