ATC light gun signals are one of those rarely used aspects of flying that we learned during flight training. Lightspeed Aviation recently published an article – as a refresher – about when light guns are used and what the various signals stand for. The article includes a video by 310 Pilot‘s Kevin Thornton which shows what a new LED-powered light gun from a tower looks like on the ground and in the air both during daylight hours and at night. See the video below and check out the original article at Lightspeed Aviation’s website.
One of the first things I do is have students buy a VFR kneeboard which has the light signal diagram. They then have that plus an efficient method for writing instructions. One or two times before solo, we ask the tower for a light signal demo. I couldn’t see any of the light signals when they were airborne except the last one. I would not agree on the arrival procedure suggested of staying 500ft above the pattern. Per the AIM 4-2-13-a-3, Transmitter and receiver inoperative, the pilot should “Remain outside or above the Class D surface area until the direction and flow of traffic has been determined; then, join the airport traffic pattern and maintain visual contact with the tower to receive light signals.” Several times while I was based at a towered airport for many years, airplanes arrived with radio problems and followed that procedure, entering the pattern in a normal manner. The tower as a precaution for others would mention there was a no radio airplane in the pattern and proceed with light signals. Never had any problems.
No matter what I do, when I try to view the video, I keep getting an error message, “Video Unavailable This video is private”.
What’s up with this???
It appears an updated link made available on Jul 8. https://youtu.be/nksBr6BDaf4
That’s frustrating. Sorry @BlueSkyMike. I’ve updated the link on the story. You can also see the video here: https://youtu.be/HQHo4qvnQR4