taxi and landing light focal point distances

[Kyle Boatright]

I fly a taildragger. The airplane has both landing and taxi lights. The landing light is a narrow beam HID light and is directed parallel to the ground with the airplane in a 3 point attitude. That is perfect for final approach, IMO, and gives very good visibility down the runway as you flare and touch down. The taxi light is a wide angle HID and is pointed where it hits the ground about 50' in front of the airplane with the airplane in a 3 point attitude. It provides a lot of light along the periphery of the landing area and gives a good view for taxiing.

The HID lights give an amazing amount of light compared to the halogen lights they replaced.