Why does a simple aircraft is having red and green light at the end of wings??

Question

i notice that aircraft is having two lights red and green at the end of wings, but why is anything specific to that? or just for other aircraft to get notice from current aircraft.

Answer 1

In the conterminous US their use is not required the whole night.  --Only  from sunset to sunrise.

Answer 2

It's carried over from ships and it's rediculouse. If you get close enough to see what color light that wing has your in deep doo doo. I can't imagine why they are still required. Bright white lights are much easier to see.

Answer 3

These are part of the navigational lights, but the navigational lights include the green on the right wing, red on left wing, and white on the tail.

The purpose however is for other aircraft to determine the relative movement of the aircraft.

For example: You see a red light at night, that means that you see the left wing of an aircraft. If you see this in front of your flightpath, it means that the plane is crossing to your left.

Vice versa is true if you see the green light. If you see the white light only, then your looking at the tail (if ahead of you,he's flying away)

The origin from navigational lights in aviation actually go back to ships.

There are other lights used primarily to "get the plane noticed" in the air called strobes, that look like camera flashes

I hope this answers it ;)

Answer 4

Red on the left wingtip, green on the right wingtip, and white at the tip of the tail.  This arrangement is required by the Federal Aviation Regulations, from the start of civil twilight until the end.

It has nothing to do with an aircraft being simple or complex.  All aircraft that have electrical systems and are intended to be flown at night are so equipped, as a matter of law.

The arrangement IS, in fact, based on traditional nautical position light colors, and it is really a pretty good idea.  In my experience, the position lights on airplanes can be seen at safe distances.

Of course in heavily travelled airspace, there are other lights you see first.  Strobes, rotating beacons, and landing lights are more prominent, but only the nav. lights tell you which way the other guy is going.

Answer 5

i agree with the first answer..

Answer 6

You can actually see them from quite a distance.  They also have a unique feature.  As you probably know, the right of way rules for aircraft say that if another vessel is crossing from right to left, he has the right of way.  Going this direction, you will see a red light.  If you have the right of way, you will see a green light.  Pretty slick, huh?

Answer 7

those lights are called Navigation position lights you can tell where the aircraft is going by looking through it. The left nav pos wing light is RED and the right wing Nav pos light is green. This is a no-go item during night (meaning must fix it or captain won't accept the plane) and another tip, this was asked on my FAA practical exam, + light color of taxi lights and runway lights.