Part 8 Landing Zone Pickup Zone (LZ PZ) Operations Practice Test

The main idea is how lighting patterns establish and maintain a safe landing sequence in a helicopter landing zone. The inverted Y NATO T pattern serves as the reference for the lead aircraft to initiate the approach and to set the orientation of the landing area. Once the lead aircraft has established that reference, the landing lights provide the continuous cues for every subsequent aircraft to follow the main approach and alignment path. Slingload reference lights are added only when a helicopter is carrying or attaching a slingload; they mark the slingload area and are used with the main pattern to aid positioning, but they aren’t used for every flight. So, the lead aircraft uses the inverted Y pattern to establish the zone, all following aircraft rely on the landing lights for navigation, and slingload reference lights are used only when a slingload is present.