Airports - 01 - Airport Markings

just as you have street signs and painted lines on the roadways to help you while striving airports have painted markings and signs to provide information aid operations and identify the various runways taxiways and ramps each runway is identified with large white numbers painted on each Jen these numbers may seem arbitrary but in fact they correspond with the magnetic direction they face these become the runways name for example a runway laid out east-west would have a nine painted on one end of the runway and a 27 painted on the other end these numbers denote the magnetic headings of 90 degrees and 270 degrees that an airplane would be flying when taking off or landing on that runway when labeling the runways the magnetic heading of the runway is rounded off to the nearest 10 degrees and the last digit and any preceding zeros are dropped for example a runway with a magnetic heading of 0 6 8 degrees becomes runway 7 additionally the runway name is pronounced with each digit separately for example runway 27 is actually called runway two-seven sometimes however one or more other runway markings may also be oriented to the same heading so to differentiate between the runways the suffix is left center and right are also used to parallel seven runways would be labeled as seven left and seven right if there are more than three parallel runways some of the runways would be assigned a different number - Center stripes are painted on runways to aid pilots with alignment when taking off and landing the most basic of runways will only include the numbers and centreline stripes however more sophisticated runways will have additional markings these markings can identify the runway edges the threshold the touchdown zone and the pilots aiming point finally additional stripes are used as distance markers each 500 feet not all runways are usable to mark runways that are undergoing maintenance are currently unsafe or have been permanently closed yellow X's are placed on the ends these markings can be painted on the runway or may be temporary structures additional X's may also be placed at intervals along the rest of the runway runway markings are also used to indicate when certain portions of a runway are not usable for takeoff or landing if part of the approach end of a runway is usable for taxi and takeoff but not landing it will be labeled as a displaced threshold and marked with white arrows landing on this portion of the runway is not permitted because terrain or man-made obstructions require an airplanes approach path to be relocated farther down the runway to provide adequate clearance you can however use this portion of the runway to slow the aircraft to a stop after touching down during a landing but only when that landing is from the opposite end of the runway runway pavement that cannot be used for taxi takeoff or landing is marked with yellow Chevron's this area can only be used for emergency overrun or has been placed there to limit ground erosion from jet blast to travel between the runways and the parking ramps most airports have taxiways since runways are labeled with numbers taxiways are given letter designators also while painted runway markings are white taxiway markings are yellow at larger airports taxiways will have a solid yellow stripe to mark the center of the taxiway and solid double yellow lines to mark the edge of the taxiways when a taxiway comes in contact with a runway runway holding position markings are used these markings identify where an aircraft is supposed to stop when approaching a runway they consist of four yellow lines two solid and two dashed extending across the width of the taxiway the solid lines are always on the side where the aircraft is supposed to hold this means that the solid lines are on the taxiway side and the dashed lines are on the runway side when approaching these markings if you are on the side with solid lines you must have permission to cross the boundary if you are instead on the side with the dashed lines no permission is needed to cross to coincide with these hold lines larger airports may additionally use an enhanced taxiway centerline this enhanced taxiway centerline consists of a parallel dashed line painted on both sides of the centreline and is used up to 150 feet prior to a runway this warns the pilot that they are approaching a runway holding position marking and may need to stop if an aircraft is trying to land at an airport during inclement weather wear fog or clouds are preventing a pilot from being able to land visually that pilot can potentially utilize that airports instrument landing system or ILS assuming the airport has one and the pilot is qualified to use it in simplified terms this system transmits radio waves from stations on the airport up to the aircraft and guides the pilot down to the runway an aircraft taxiing on the ground can potentially block these radio waves and prevent the approaching aircraft from successfully landing because of that additional holding areas may also exist to denote these ILS critical areas and prevent any stationary aircraft from blocking the signal holding markings for ILS critical areas consist of two parallel lines stretching the width of the taxiway connected together with pairs of perpendicular lines the marking resembles that of a ladder please note you do not have to hold short of this marking unless specifically instructed by ATC to do so Airport parking areas are called ramps they are also known as non movement areas a curious designation since you're allowed to move about on these ramps without ATC permission however this name actually makes sense because the taxiways and runways are considered movement areas where permission is necessary to move about the border between ramps and taxiways is marked with yellow stripes a single solid line on the ramp side and a single dashed line on the taxiway side just like with runway hold lines permission is required to cross the line when on the solid side but not when on the dash side the final markings we'll discuss our lead-in and lead off lines these lines are painted on the runway to guide aircraft onto and off of the runway

Channel: ERAU SpecialVFR

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Keywords: Flying, flight training, aviation, Cessna, pilot, private pilot, embry riddle, erau, airplanes, ground school

Id: MrrL92AH23A

Length: 7min 8sec (428 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 25 2016