Originally Posted by
texd
I don't understand how this could result in longer bulb life. Doesn't frequent power cycling have a negative impact on bulb life. Maybe I'm wrong and it's just one of those counter-intutive things. Or maybe the frequency of the power cycling is high enough so as to prevent the bulb from heating too much.
after seeing the reference to another message board. a simple google search turned up a lot of info - I just prefer to use the experts here.
It turns out it is for better visibility to others when on approach. When on "short approach" what I guess is what we non-pilots in the back call "final approach" the lights go solid.
Interestingly, on short approach the flashing lights are used to indicate to ground crew some problem and/or distress signal.
TEXD you surmised correctly; Longer bulb life is achieved for two reasons - one the filament doesnt get as hot and as for long as steady on thereby increasing life, and two, it doesnt have the stress of suddenly going from off to on (the bulbs are not turned all the way off in the flashing sequence).
CO related - I found a post from 1997 where the writer says he has a pilot friend for CO that has one 737 with the feature and that as far as he new, CO was the only mainline carrier to use the feature.