Definition
High-intensity flashing white lights mounted at the outer tip of each wing, designed to make the airplane highly visible to other aircraft, particularly in flight and in low-light or hazy conditions.
Plain English
Bright flashing lights on the very ends of the wings that help other pilots see the airplane.
Context Anchor
You encounter wingtip strobes during pre-takeoff checks, night operations, and anytime exterior aircraft lights are discussed.
Derivation
Strobe comes from the Greek strobos, meaning 'a whirling' or 'act of whirling.' It was adopted for lights that flash rapidly because the quick on-off pulses give a similar attention-grabbing effect.
Why Pilots Care
They reduce the risk of mid-air collisions and ground incursions by making the aircraft conspicuous when it would otherwise blend into the background.
Intuition Check
Wingtip strobes are not the steady colored position lights. They are the bright flashing lights used to make the airplane stand out.
Example Sentence 1
Before taxiing onto the runway, the pilot turned on the wingtip strobes to alert other aircraft that the airplane was about to take the active.
Example Sentence 2
During the crosswind climb the flashing wingtip strobes remained clearly visible to traffic in the pattern.