Noob Question sorry
 

hi
Just had a quick question, im not a pilot or anything to do with aviation, but i always seem to live right under a flight path (guess its hard not to in a city) but i noticed every now and then on approach an aircrafts approach lights are flashing left and right, left and right. why do they do this? is it to tell the tower something? my only thoughts were to say they are following another aircraft and would like clearance to land asap. ofcourse i have no knowledge of these things and dont even know if the planes can be seen from the tower when they are over my place. but its just bugging me.
THanks

Re: Noob Question sorry
 

Over here it's now a standard for small aircraft and helicopters. It is supposed to increase visibility to other aircraft. There are some 737s following the same procedure.

Re: Noob Question sorry
 

I haven't personally seen this. Presumably it doesn'yt happen at night,after all,they are LANDING lights,not anti-collision lights,and it's pretty hard to see ahead if they're going on and off!

Re: Noob Question sorry
 

When in the USA I seem to recall seeing Southwest Airlines B737s and most GA aircraft using this feature.

Re: Noob Question sorry
 

Try gooling for "pulselites".

Re: Noob Question sorry
 

cool, yeah i mostly see dash8s doing it and a few qantas 737's.
thanks for ansewing! cheers