Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

1 Answers

FAR 91.126 (b) Direction of turns

Asked by: 852 views
FAA Regulations

FAR 91.126 talks about left turns in the pattern at uncontrolled airports, and references left turns "unless the airport displays approved light signals or visual markings" indicating right turns.  I assume "visual markings" would be segmented circles, but what would constitute "approved light signals" at a non-towered field?

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

1 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on Apr 11, 2023

    I dug out my Sanderson Private Pilot training book from 1970 (Jeppesen and Sanderson were two different companies at that time). It states that “A flashing amber light, near the center of the segmented circle or on top of the windsock, control tower or adjoining building, indicates that a right traffic pattern is in effect at the time.”

    In over 50 years of flying, I have never seen a flashing amber light.

    Things are much simpler now, since the sectional chart includes a notation of runways with right traffic (i.e. RP18).

    Also, note that the language in 91.126 only applies to airplanes, so if you hear a helicopter or other category of aircraft making radio calls announcing a right pattern for a runway using left traffic for airplanes, they are not breaking a regulation.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.