An airport rotating beacon operation in daylight indicates weather below basic VFR minimums at airports located in which airspace class?

• A. Class D
• B. Class B
• C. Class C
• D. Class E

Answer: (A)

Rotating beacons are used as a visual cue that the weather at an airport isn’t meeting basic VFR minimums. When a beacon is operating in daylight, it signals that the airport lies within Class D airspace and that the current weather at that field is below those basic VFR minimums. This helps pilots recognize increased hazard around a towered field and plan accordingly, since Class D has specific VFR minimums and air traffic patterns associated with a control tower. In other airspace classes, daylight beacon signaling isn’t used to indicate sub-VFR conditions in the same way, so the beacon’s daylight operation is specifically tied to Class D.