This SAE Aerospace Standard (AS) will specify what type night vision goggles are required, minimum requirements for compatible crew station lighting, aircraft exterior lighting such as anticollision lights and position/navigation lights that are "NVG compatible." Also, this document is intended to set standards for NVG utilization for aircraft so that special use aircraft such as the Coast Guard, Border Patrol, Air Rescue, Police Department, Medivacs, etc., will be better equipped to chase drug smugglers and catch illegal immigrants, rescue people in distress, reduce high-speed chases through city streets by police, etc. Test programs and pilot operator programs are required.

For those people designing or modifying civil aircraft to be NVG compatible, the documents listed in 2.1.3 are essential.

This specification covers the installation of aircraft interior lighting for military aircraft.

This SAE Aerospace Recommended Practice (ARP) covers the general design and performance characteristics of illuminated information signs for service in the passenger compartment of passenger transport aircraft. Relating to regulations, this ARP covers regulations that have been harmonized with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA); if there are any differences, the applicant should review the appropriate regulations.

"Illuminated information signs" are lighted signs used to inform occupants of the passenger compartment. Signs may use symbols or letters to convey messages.

This ARP does not apply to "EXIT" signs, which are the subject of ARP503.

This document recommends design and performance criteria for aircraft lighting systems used to illuminate flight deck controls, luminous visual displays used for transfer of information, and flight deck background and instrument surfaces that form the flight deck visual environment. This document is for commercial transport aircraft except for applications requiring night vision compatibility.