ATC light-gun signals

The tower may direct you with a coloured light gun if radio communication is lost. The meaning depends on the colour, whether it is steady or flashing, and whether you are in flight or on the ground. The pattern: green lets you go, red stops or holds you, flashing softens a steady signal into a conditional one.

• Steady green, in flight: cleared to land; on the ground: cleared for take-off.
• Flashing green, in flight: return for landing (a steady green will follow); on the ground: cleared to taxi.
• Steady red, in flight: give way and keep circling; on the ground: stop.
• Flashing red, in flight: do not land, the aerodrome is unsafe; on the ground: taxi clear of the landing area.
• Flashing white, on the ground only: return to your starting point on the aerodrome.

Acknowledge by rocking the aircraft in flight (day) or a single flash of the landing light (night), per TC AIM RAC 4.4.7.

Trap: the pair that looks alike, steady vs flashing of the same colour, or the air vs ground meaning of the same signal.

Practice