PLT119: Aircraft Lighting
What code PLT119 covers, why the FAA tests it, and how to study Aircraft Lighting before your checkride.
Recall aircraft lighting - anti-collision / landing / navigation
What this means for your checkride
Aircraft exterior lights communicate presence and orientation. Position lights, red on the left wing and green on the right with a white tail, show other pilots which way you are heading; the anticollision lights (beacon and strobes) make the airplane conspicuous. Landing lights aid the approach and also visibility to others.
Lights are central to collision avoidance at night, so the FAA tests the color and placement rules and when each light must be on.
The red-left, green-right convention is easy to reverse. Seeing a red light on your left and green on your right means the other aircraft is pointed the same way you would read a set of nav lights, and getting it backward misreads the traffic's direction.
Where to study it
A code on your test report is an area of deficiency. An authorized instructor must review it with you and endorse that review before you take the practical test, and the examiner may revisit it during the oral. Study it until you can explain it out loud, not just recognize the answer.