Runway Queries

[Ryan H]

Hi, new to this as you will probably see.

I am fascinated by all kinds of passenger/commercial jets, however i still no very little about anything to do with aviation!!! I am learning all the time, but my knowledge is very poor. Obviously i know the very tiny basics, but one thing that i have wanted to know for years is:

On the runways, they are named IE/ R-27, R-34 etc etc, what do this mean?? Is it just the number they have designated for the runway?? Because i would have thought it would just be a simple case of R-1, and R-2 at most commercial airports.

Cheers.

Ryan.

 

[BoeingBoy]

The runways are "named" based on the magnetic heading of that runway, rounded to the nearest even 10 degrees with the zero dropped off. Thus a runway with a magnetic heading of 268 degrees would be runway 27 (for 270 degrees magnetic).

Parallel runways with the same magnetic heading will have a L or R added for Left or Right (as in 27L or 27R). If there are 3 runways with the same mag heading, the center one will a C for Center added to the number.

Where it gets more complicated is when there are 4 or more runways with the same magnetic heading - ATL or DFW for example. Then two adjacent runways will be "named" as above and the other two adjacent runways will have their mag heading rounded the other way. For example, if all four had a mag heading of 268 degrees, the northernmost two might be named 27L & 27R while the southernmost two would be named 26L & 26R.

Of course, each runway can be used in both directions. So what is runway 27 when operating to the west becomes runway 9 when operating to the east (and a big "09" will be painted on the end of the runway if you approach from the west.

Last but not least, at any given location magnetic north changes over long periods. So a runway that once had a magnetic heading of 268 degrees could change over the years to a magnetic heading of 264 degrees. The runway would then be renamed from runway 27 to runway 26 (264 rounded to nearest 10 degrees, or 260, with the zero dropped).

Jim