Lighting System

The F-14 Tomcat lighting system consists of the internal and the external lights.

The internal lights are the red instrument panel and console lights, red and white floodlights and a moveable utility light at both crew stations.

The external lights are the position lights, the anti-collision lights, the formation lights, the taxi light, the approach lights and the refueling probe light.

Internal Lighting

The red instrument panel and console lights are the normally used lights during nighttime, they back-light all instruments and controls allowing their use while impacting night vision minimally.

The floodlights allow for additional lighting of the cockpit panels but care should be taken to avoid affecting night vision.

The utility lights are movable and can be used to illuminate a specific spot and as a map or reading light.

Controls for the internal lights are on the Master Light Control Panel in pilot cockpit and Interior Light Control Panel in the RIO cockpit, each controlling their own cockpit lighting.

💡 The utility light function is not modeled in DCS, but the flashlight function, default keybind LAlt + L, which moves with the cursor, can be used, providing a similar function.

External Lighting

The position lights on the F-14 are located on the left wing tip (red), right wing tip (green), top aft of left vertical stabilizer (white) and upper and lower lights on the wing gloves on each side (red on left glove and green on right). The glove lights are additional lights supplementing the wing tip lights. When the wings are swept forward of 25° the wing tip lights are active and when aft of 25° the glove lights are active instead.

With the gear down, wings forward of 25° and the position lights in steady mode both the glove and wingtip position lights are lit. When the anti-collision lights are on the the position lights can only operate in the steady mode, otherwise they can be set to flash.

The anti-collision lights are located on the chin pod or TCS pod, top front of the left vertical stabilizer and top aft of the right vertical stabilizer. The anti-collision lights are all red flashing lights. The chin pod mounted lower light only operates while the nosegear wheel door is closed.

The formation lights are dim green lights used for formation flight which can be dimmed gradually. They are located on the aircraft nose (behind the radome), the wing tips, on the fuselage aft of the wings and on the top edge of the vertical stabilizers. All are duplicated on both sides of the aircraft.

The taxi light is a fixed headlight located on the nosewheel strut. It’s automatically turned off with gear retraction if set to on.

The approach lights are also located on the nosewheel strut and replicate the AoA indexer for the LSOs during carrier traps.

The refueling probe light is used to illuminate the refueling probe and is automatically enabled with probe extension.

All external light controls are located on the Master Light Control Panel except for the exterior lights switch on the left throttle (see Throttle) which disables or enables all external lights apart from the approach lights.