Product certification
Aircraft lighting equipment evidence review for DO-160G
This review is for equipment suppliers, OEMs, MROs responsible for aircraft lighting equipment. It is triggered by lighting qualification planning. EE checks photometric intensity, angular-coverage test data against the required light distribution, lightning direct-effects for exterior positions, plus the governing plan or application, against DO-160G. Discrepancies include missing source records, mismatched configuration, unsupported assumptions, or photometrics met on axis but failing at the coverage-angle limits. Output includes Aircraft lighting equipment gap register, Means of compliance map, Test and analysis request list.
When this review is needed
- A new article, software load, or installation is moving into certification review.
- Quality control needs a repeatable list of ready and open records.
- Internal teams need a supplier request list tied to evidence gaps.
- The buyer wants a defensible package before committing the claim.
The problem
Certification risk sits in the gap between the claimed basis and the records in the folder. With aircraft lighting equipment, photometrics met on axis but failing at the coverage-angle limits can stay hidden until the exact source record is requested.
What gets reviewed
- Review photometric intensity against the configuration, installation, or claim under review.
- Compare angular-coverage test data against the required light distribution against the configuration, installation, or claim under review.
- Trace lightning direct-effects for exterior positions against the configuration, installation, or claim under review.
- Challenge eMI/power-quality against the configuration, installation, or claim under review.
- Reconcile dO-160G environmental for the driver electronics against the configuration, installation, or claim under review.
- Confirm emergency-light battery/duration data. against the configuration, installation, or claim under review.
Scope this review
Tell us the asset, the event, and the evidence in scope, and we will outline a focused first engagement.
Identify what is missing against the means of compliance.
What gets validated
- Pass check: photometric intensity must match the released configuration and the claimed means of compliance.
- Configuration check: angular-coverage test data against the required light distribution must match the released configuration and the claimed means of compliance.
- Trace check: lightning direct-effects for exterior positions must match the released configuration and the claimed means of compliance.
- Rationale check: eMI/power-quality must match the released configuration and the claimed means of compliance.
- Closure check: dO-160G environmental for the driver electronics must match the released configuration and the claimed means of compliance.
Evidence normally required
- Controlled photometric intensity
- Released angular-coverage test data against the required light distribution
- Signed lightning direct-effects for exterior positions
- Current eMI/power-quality
- Archived dO-160G environmental for the driver electronics
- Supplier emergency-light battery/duration data.
Common discrepancies
- Gap: photometrics met on axis but failing at the coverage-angle limits.
- Mismatch: lED driver EMI upsetting nearby avionics.
- Unsupported claim: emergency-light duration short of the required evacuation time.
What is at stake
A weak package can convert a planned review into a long question log. If LED driver EMI upsetting nearby avionics, the program may need new evidence before the claim can proceed.
How the work runs
Frame Exterior Interior
Confirm the exact event, affected file set, buyer role, and decision standard before any photometric intensity is treated as sufficient.
Trace TSO Evidence
Walk the named evidence from index entry to source artifact and mark where the trail supports, conflicts with, or fails to answer the page-specific question.
Sort Certification Equipment
Group exceptions by closure route: document retrieval, data correction, engineering disposition, authority response, or contractual decision.
Package 160g Product
Deliver the exception list, evidence map, and owner sequence in a form that can move directly into remediation, submittal cleanup, or transaction negotiation.
What the buyer receives
- Aircraft lighting equipment gap register
- Means of compliance map
- Test and analysis request list
- Interface closure plan
Who uses the output
- Certification engineer assign closure actions from the exception register.
- qualification engineer use the map to locate source evidence.
- Product manager decide what can proceed and what must wait.
How the work fits into the transaction or program
What aircraft lighting (position/anti-collision exterior lights, LED landing/taxi lights, emergency and cabin lighting) must substantiate, a category no page covers, because the evidence differs by function: exterior nav/anti-collision lights turn on photometric intensity/coverage plus lightning direct-effects on the wingtip, while LED conversions add EMI and power-quality behaviour and emergency lighting adds battery/duration. The evidence set centers on photometric intensity and angular-coverage test data. The likely weak points are photometrics met on axis but failing at the coverage-angle limits, LED driver EMI upsetting nearby avionics, and emergency-light duration short of the required evacuation time. The output gives the certification engineer a cleanup register for Aircraft lighting equipment before lighting qualification planning.
Start with a single asset
Reduce finding cycles by checking the package first.
Regulatory limits
The output supports applicant decision making and authority discussions. It does not replace required approvals, designee findings, conformity activity, or airworthiness determinations.
What this review does not cover
- Final certification decision
- Airworthiness determination
- Hardware or software redesign
- Production quality release
Specific to this review
- Configuration identity matters because evidence from another baseline may prove a different article, load, or installation.
- A useful trail names the source record, revision, owner, and closure decision for each claim.
- The exception list separates document-control cleanup from gaps that need engineering substantiation.
- The finding pattern for this page is specific: photometrics met on axis but failing at the coverage-angle limits changes the strength of the certification argument.
- The scope uses the Exterior Interior Lighting TSO question as the control point, so the review stays tied to Lighting qualification planning and the buyer decision behind it.
- The evidence starts with Photometric intensity and follows Evidence Aircraft Certification Equipment references until every exception has a source location and a reason code.
- The finding logic separates missing paperwork, conflicting status, stale revision data, and unsupported disposition because each class closes through a different owner.
- The timing matters for Certification engineer: the output is useful only if the unresolved items are visible before acceptance, submittal, handback, or negotiation pressure fixes the sequence.
- The boundary control keeps Review 160g Product Photometrics questions in the records or certification lane and sends technical acceptance issues to the authorized people who own them.
- The handoff value comes from Aircraft lighting equipment gap register; it gives the next reviewer a precise map instead of another broad request for a better file.
Sources
U.S. Government (eCFR). Type certificates, STCs (Subpart E), TSO authorizations (Subpart O), PMA (Subpart K), and export airworthiness approvals (Subpart L).
RTCA. Environmental qualification test categories and procedures referenced by TSO and equipment qualification.
Frequently asked questions
What makes this product-types review different from a general file audit?
The scope is tied to exterior interior lighting tso and to the decision named in the request. A general audit can list weak records; this pass ranks the gaps by whether they block lighting qualification planning or can be closed later without changing the decision.
What evidence has to be available before this work starts?
The starting point is photometric intensity, the current status source, and any index or matrix that tells reviewers where the supporting artifact should live. Missing inputs are logged as findings rather than filled with assumptions.
Who decides whether an open item is acceptable?
The review explains what the evidence supports and gives certification engineer a closure path. Acceptance remains with the buyer, operator, authority, delegated engineer, or authorized person responsible for the underlying airworthiness or certification decision.
Relevant glossary terms
Related pages
Where this fits
Talk to an engineer who has done this work
We will walk through your current state, the records or evidence involved, and a scoped first engagement.
Talk through the aircraft, records, evidence, deadline, and next useful step.