Zodiac Aerospace’s ECE unit (not to be confused with the former “ECE” designator for what are now known as UN automotive regulations) provides expertise and experience in external lighting recognised by the major aircraft and helicopter manufacturers. Historically, ECE’s customers have been European manufacturers such as Airbus, ATR, Eurocopter, Agusta Westland, and Dassault Aviation.
Recently, though, ECE have expanded their offerings to worldwide manufacturers including Boeing, Bombardier, HAL, and Sukhoi.
The external lights on aircraft fall into three general categories.
– Navigation lights or anticollision lights that are always illuminated while the aircraft is in operation;
– Runway turn-off, takeoff and landing lights that are used to improve visibility during each respective phase of the flight, and
– Wing & engine scan lights, logo lighting, and any specific lighting to aircraft area for technical or commercial purposes
For a commercial aircraft, the external lighting systems integrate up to a dozen different functions: RTO (Runway Turn Off), Taxi, Landing, Take-Off, Red-Green-White Navigation, Anticollision White, Anticolision Red (Beacon), Logo, Wing and Engine, Camera. The complete shipset can count up to 30 individual lights per aircraft.
ECE have commercialised lighting through the years with successive technologies: Halogen, SHL (Substitute Halogen Lamp), HID, and LED. New design proposals rely on no filament technology, only LED & HID, to guarantee very long Photometrical Operating Life.