aeronautical light beacon

An international visual navigational aid displaying flashes of white and/or colored light to indicate the location of an airport, a heliport, a landmark, a certain point on the federal airway in mountainous terrain, or an obstruction. The lights used may be rotating beacons or one or more flashing lights. The flashing lights may be supplemented by steady burning lights of lesser intensity. The color or color combination displayed by a particular beacon and/or its auxiliary lights will indicate whether the indicated object is a landing place, a landmark, a point on the federal airway, or an obstruction. Coded flashes of the auxiliary lights, if employed, further identify the beacon sites. Course lights indicate the direction of a federal airway. See aeronautical beacon.