I received the penalty regarding the landing lights that I turned off during the cruise. I decided to turn them off at an altitude of 7,000 feet because they dazzled me in the darkness and I couldn’t see the horizon well. I was flying a Cessna 208 in the middle of the night. In reality, the rules from 10,000 feet apply to large and commercial airplanes: turn on the landing lights during takeoff and turn them off after passing 10,000 feet and then turn them back on during the approach phase below 10,000 feet. Ok, but for someone who flies a small plane, these rules are not valid because a Cessna that always flies below 10,000 feet is forced to always keep the landing lights on even during the cruise? SIM FLY I propose to change the rules only for small and medium-class aircraft that fly at lower altitudes…in reality these aircraft turn on their landing lights during takeoff and during the approach and landing phases, but it is rare to see a plane with its landing lights on during cruise. It’s like when you turn on your high beams in a car in the fog and in front of you you can’t see anything anymore, you see everything white. Another thing: can you explain to me, according to your rules, after landing while you’re still on the runway at what precise moment should you turn off the landing lights? I often get penalties because after landing I turned off the lights on the first runway after waiting for parking instructions from the tower.
let’s review something.
- There isn’t a mandatory regulation requiring the use of landing lights below 10,000 feet, BUT the FAA’s “Operation Lights On” safety program recommends turning them on at this altitude, along with other lights, to enhance visibility and serve as a collision avoidance measure, especially within 10 miles of an airport. Many airlines and private operators follow this practice, turning on landing lights when descending below 10,000 feet and turning them off when climbing through that altitude again. So it happens to be a “mandatory” rule that Simfly has put, in order to make things a little more less annoying, or for general safety. Oh right you are on a sim and not risking your life, but many times, users ask Simfly to be more realistic and many other things.
- I’ve seen your flight logs, and many times you have correct taxi light and other lights put on and off correctly. it depends on the airplane MSFS configuration of the lights, if with some airplane, some lights are not available. I also had penalties in some aircraft. But I usually put them this way: while on parking, before moving, I turn ON TAXI, NAV, BEACON if available. Or whatever lights are available, but not for sure STROBE and LANDING. I do the taxi, and when on runway threshold, I turn OFF taxi, and turn ON , LANDING and STROBE. when I land, after a stop on the runway, before entering taxi way, I turn OFF LANDING and STROBE, and TURN ON TAXI lights.
- Before trying to talk about lights ON or OFF, try to adjust you turning angle, not exceed to much, also for pitch. your are not a military pilot or have an emergency, you have civil passengers on board.
- another suggestion for taxi speed. look at the GS speed on garmin avionics and stay below 20 kts on ground.
Have a safe flight..
Ps. Think about SimFly as a private operator as mentioned in above point 1. 
Really, if we’re going to fly in a simulator strictly adhering to aeronautical laws, you’re absolutely right! The landing lights always turn off above 10,000 feet and turn on below 10,000 feet, for safety and logic. But that’s where the SimFly rules come in, as they know little or nothing about aeronautical laws… well, it is what it is.
I suppose the main thing, weather if there are true aeronautical rules or not, is just a way not giving easy pax to everyone. I mean, there’s also the possibility as in real world to use autopilot in order to fly and don’t worry so much, now we complain about try to remember to turn on some lights? Why should simfly give easy pax away to user that don’t even fly for real?? 
I don’t know if it’s the language that creates difficulty for me or my way of expressing myself. ok please reread the content of my post because I am referring to small caliber aircraft not to airliners for small ones it is not mandatory to use landing lights during the day during cruise especially if they fly at altitudes lower than 10000 I adjust them I know them very well.
As I said, it’s not mandatory, doesn’t matter if big one’s or small. It’s just a rule,in some country it is mandatory, in other is not, in some private airline company it is. As I said, take it as a simfly rule. It’s their “game”. Just as in My house, my rule. That’s it. I don’t think it’s hard to understand.
I agree with @Symonx6 and disagree with @antonio.ferrara as many of us GA pilots were trained to turn off the taxi and takeoff lights shortly after takeoff as it interferes with the ability to spot other GA aircraft that are flying below 10k. I found this posting simply because I too was frustrated with penalties for trained behavior. I get that I could retrain myself (and I have been) to do it the way SimFly wants it done. However, I also think @Symonx6 has a valid point and that perhaps this could be optional for GA aircraft. Lastly @antonio.ferrara, I do not think your attitude or snide remarks are at all helpful. Criticizing someone on their handling performance does not improve understanding of checklists. Lookup my logs and you’re going to see some pretty crazy landings… because sometimes I’m using a game controller and not my full sim rig. What I truly care about is learning the avionics and procedures. Not landings (but I do try), because simulators don’t teach landings. Give people a break and don’t knock them down because they don’t have your perfect stats or expectations.
I can understand that written words, often don’t show the real “attitude” behind a statement. For this reason, I sometimes add a smile, just to let , or at least I try, to show that my comment it’s not “against” that person, and not being “rude” in some way. Besides this, I don’t see a direct critic, or trying to “teach” how to fly within simfly (accepting I suppose their “rules”, if we can call them rules). Where is my comment being unkind, or acting as a “superior” topgun pilot? Am I insulting?
I was simply point out some evidence:
Traffic lights usage within simfly: appart from real aviation life behavior and rules, in simfly, there’s a rule. My self, I just managed how not to get penalties, and worked (for some planes), i changed, didn’t asked simfly to change. This doesn’t mean that simfly is perfect, many times the community asked and pointed out things that weren’t working.
I also gave some suggestions on how to avoid some penalties (my point 2 comment on top message)
On point 1 I tried to explain why of the 10k rules. Also mentioned that it isn’t mandatory, in real life, and rules might change depending on the country. The line “ oh right you are on a sim and not risking your life, wasn’t ment to be personal, I could have wrote instead of “you”, and put “we” just to try to give out the message that there are more important things maybe that “we” (simfly users) should think about first. Such as my comment on point 3. After the suggestion to watch out for pitch angle, the words that followed, “your not a military pilot..” wasn’t mentioned as to be rude, it was an example because the user many times mentioned he would love to see military airplanes within simfly, and he might used them I suppose..nothing bad, is just that if you use them you will have for sure some penalties. Same thing if you decide to use a game pad instead of a joystick. But I suppose that you will be aware of the eventual consequences. If “I” would use a game pad for whatever reason I might have, i would avoid to fly within simfly just because of the eventual penalties consequences, that’s it, or I would still fly but knowing of what it might happen . I can fly with a simulator and enjoy to learn avionics and procedures, but as for the fact that I am learning, I wouldn’t be surprised if I receive some penalties, if I do I would change my way of flying, simple. Otherwise If i don’t want to change, I just not use simfly that day.
Crazy landings? I did some. I was aware of the results.. that’s it..
Again on traffic lights, i pointed out on my last comment that in real life it’s not mandatory, its just rule put down by the owners. I , myself, just accepted and moved on.
PS. and you are right when you say, simulators don’t teach you how to land (in real life) , but “we” can learn how to do good landings within a simulator, it’s a matter of understanding step by step and a lot of patience, how a Software/sim works. it takes some time, but when you understand , and have the reasonable tools (I changed my joystick many times and reflected the landing for sure)
adding something else. If “we” have been thought in a certain way, depending also on the country where we got our license, this doesn’t mean that simfly can develop a SW that follows every country rules, or if is not mandatory in real life, just don’t put a penalty.. as we all know, there are different rules in real life : for example
Taxi lights are generally turned off during takeoff. it means that when you enter the runway, you stop and turned them off, (and turn on the strobe and landing) then you take off. this is a suggestion. when you go over 10k feet, turn landing off
once the aircraft is on the active runway
, usually upon receiving takeoff clearance or during the “before takeoff” checklist, to avoid blinding other pilots or ground crew and to switch to higher-intensity landing lights. Some procedures dictate leaving them on until reaching 10,000 feet.
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Standard Operation: Taxi lights are used while taxiing to the runway. Upon lining up or receiving clearance to take off, they are often turned off or switched to landing lights.
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Airline Procedures: In many airline procedures, taxi lights are kept on until climbing through a certain altitude, such as 18,000 feet, to improve visibility to other aircraft.
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Alternative Procedures: Some pilots keep taxi lights on during the lineup and turn them off only after takeoff is initiated to maximize visibility during the runway roll.
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Switching: Often, the “Taxi” light is switched to “Landing” or “Takeoff” lights upon entering the runway to provide a more focused beam for high-speed operation.
Note: Specific procedures can vary based on airline SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and aircraft type.
@antonio.ferrara, thank you for responding and clarifying. Like you pointed out, some words (you, your) can sound accusatory. If I misunderstood your intentions, I do apologize. And I do appreciate your point of view and understand that SimFly cannot cater to every country. Many of us just want to understand why and can accept it for what it is.
Hakuna matata… 
no problem.
I’m not aware of any ICAO or FAA regulation that mandates the use of landing lights below 10,000 ft. This practice mainly comes from airline SOPs, adopted to improve safety and reduce collision risk in busy terminal areas (TMAs), rather than from a legal requirement.
For general aviation operations the situation is different. Small aircraft often cruise below 10,000 ft, and in real-world flying it is very common to switch the landing light OFF during cruise (especially at night) to avoid glare , preserve night vision and reduce electrical load. The light is then turned back ON on TOD or when approaching an airport, entering the traffic pattern, or operating in higher traffic density.
Because of this requiring small aircraft to keep landing lights ON during cruise below 10,000 ft doesn’t really reflect real GA procedures. It might be more realistic for SimFly to apply the “below 10,000 ft” logic only to an aircraft category or higher and allow GA aircraft to manage their lights based on phase of flight rather than altitude.
Have a great weekend everyone with calm winds.
As stated before, there isn’t a mandatory rule in real life environment. I suppose it’s easy to understand that this “simfly” rule has been made in order to give something to think about to "us”, simfly users. I’ll bet there are some other “rules” within other sites also that don’t really reflect the real world aviation behavior. I’ts also logical to think that making more exceptions, such as for example, GA aircraft or cat1 to cat 3, not mandatory to control landing lights during cruise, but then turning them on “if” landing or departing within certain airports, makes the life a bit more complicated. personally I don’t find it “hard” or not respectful to real world aviation, just to follow this. I rather instead, find very not respectable, making a flight starting from the runway and/or land on a runway and click “end mission” skipping the entire pre flight and post landing procedures. I don’t think this reflects not even a bit the “realism” of aviation. So what I was trying to let everybody understand, is: If we want simfly to be more realistic, we should start by asking, maybe other things first, at my point of view, more important than light usage. It’s just an opinion.
(and I’m sure Simfly will come out anyway with something about who intentionally starts a flight on the runway and ends right after landing without doing proper procedures. In any case I was wondering “why” anybody pointed out , or if someone did, they were just a couple of users)
PS by the way, talking about realism, what is the position of IVAO or VATSIM about landing lights? who know maybe there could be social and administrative repercussions, even though not a mandatory requirement. 