[caldrail]

It isn't generally used by British civilian aeroplanes unless circumstance demands it - I once landed in a squall and putting on the landing lights, whilst not necessarily helping my vision, cetainly might have warned anyone around me of my presence on close finals. There was of course the incident in New Zealand when I forgot to turn them on landing at night - we landed okay, but a totally unaware aeroplane crossed the runway ahead of us! The pilot of the other aeroplane was dismissive though... I was a Pom, after all