Cockpit Lighting Choices

In recent years, theres been a move away from using red-colored lighting to illuminate cockpits, often in favor of low-intensity greenish-blue light. The reasons are numerous, but boil down to the fact rods in our retinas are most sensitive to that green/blue wavelength. But thats not the whole story.

Editorial Staff

Friday, September 25, 2015 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Cockpit lighting is shifting from traditional red to low-intensity greenish-blue, which aims to balance rod (low-light sensitivity) and cone (detail acuity) vision, though green/blue must be kept very dim to avoid overloading rods.
Red lighting is argued to be more effective for preserving outside night vision, as rods are less sensitive to it and remain dark-adapted for spotting dimly lit objects.
Regardless of the chosen color, maintaining minimal light intensity is crucial, and other light sources like moving maps (using night mode), flashlights (red LEDs), and passenger reading lights must be carefully managed to preserve night vision.

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In recent years, there’s been a move away from using red-colored lighting to illuminate cockpits, often in favor of low-intensity greenish-blue light. The reasons are numerous, but boil down to the fact rods in our retinas are most sensitive to that green/blue wavelength. But that’s not the whole story.

The rods are most efficient at low light settings, but aren’t very good at distinguishing colors or details, like instrument readings. In addition to being most sensitive to the greenish-blue wavelength, they are relatively insensitive to red. Conveniently, cones are most sensitive to green light, and the green/blue colors attempt to strike a balance between the rods’ low-light sensitivity and the cones’ acuity. As long as the green/blue light is at a low intensity, using it can help preserve our ability to read the instruments.