Takeoff course or operational runway

The idea to write this review came to my mind after many times contemplating the airfields of the world's airports while traveling, taking photographs and simply observing numerous takeoffs and landings of various aircraft.

What would seem so interesting? Far, near, here is concrete ....

In fact, everything did not look so simple, and I had absolutely no answers to most of the relatively simple questions regarding the arrangement of the airfield, and therefore, as usual, I had to delve into the documents, which turned out to be unexpectedly interesting, and in places almost artistic.

Documentation on airport takeoff and landing equipment begins with a rather detailed and very entertaining description of the problems experienced by the flight crew in the implementation of the entire complex of operations related to takeoffs, landings, taxiing and other air-ground operations. I have always been aware of the complexity of flying aircraft, but the true depth of this hard work was inaccessible to me. Now, I hope, my understanding has expanded somewhat, and I invite you to take an excursion into the world of airfield lights and symbols in order to be imbued with even greater respect for aviators.

I'll start with a few quotes from ICAO documents. The documents of this organization are captivating because, despite their high technicality and, one might say, scrupulous detail, they are written in a very lively language using vivid, almost poetic metaphors.

Here are a couple of them:

“People are creatures living in a world of two dimensions. From the moment we learn to crawl, we use visual cues and our innate sense of balance to navigate the surface of the earth. This long and gradual learning process continues even after we start using various types of mechanical transport on land or water, and by this time we have accumulated many years of experience, which we are guided by. As soon as we are in the air, we face the problem of the third dimension, and this means that all our life experience in solving the problems of two dimensions is no longer enough.”

“Taking a long-body aircraft as an example, its pilot has to taxi one of the largest, heaviest and least efficient tricycles ever built. The nearest point on the ground in the direction of travel that the pilot can see from at least 6 m above the ground is more than 12 m away. additional problems when driving on a curve), and the wheels of the main racks - at least 27 m behind. Naturally, there is no "direct drive" to these wheels, and therefore it is necessary to use the thrust of jet engines, which are obviously inefficient at low forward speeds. Because many modern jet aircraft (regardless of size) have swept-wing wing designs, the pilot often cannot see the wingtips from the cockpit.”

Impressive, at least to me.

Armed with inspirational remarks from ICAO, I will move on to the main part of my story

I'll start with the runways and taxiways, namely with what is drawn on them and what useful information can be gleaned from this.

In films, and in ordinary life, many of us have seen a red-and-white stocking fluttering in the wind or lifelessly drooping in complete calm on a small support located near the runway of the airfield.

Aerodrome wind indicator.

Aviators call this unpretentious device a “sorcerer”, but its full and correct name is a windsock, and every airfield must be equipped with at least one such device.

Its purpose is simple - to indicate to pilots the direction of the surface wind, as well as to give a rough idea of ​​\u200b\u200bits speed, however, the practical use of even such a simple thing requires compliance with several rules.

First, the windsock is placed in such a way that it is clearly visible both from the aircraft in flight and from the airfield itself. The trick of its location lies in the fact that it should not be affected by all kinds of air currents from nearby objects and structures. In short, so that it does not happen that the windsock always indicates the direction of the draft from the nearest gateway.

Secondly, the size and color of the “sorcerer” also matter. Despite the fact that the windsock looks tiny in the airfield landscape, in fact it is not even small at all. Its length reaches more than three meters, and the diameter at the base is almost a meter. As for the color of the "sorcerer", it is chosen taking into account the background of the airfield, so that it is clearly distinguishable from a height of at least 300 meters. One color is preferred, preferably white or orange, but if increased contrast is desired, two colors are used, with preference being given to a combination of orange and white, red and white, or black and white, with the colors arranged in five alternating bands so that the first and last are darker. color.

Thirdly, the position of the windsock is indicated by a strip 1.2 meters wide, applied in the form of a fairly large circle with a diameter of 15 meters, which, moreover, should contrast with the windsock itself. At night, the “sorcerer” is provided with personal lighting.

Having seen enough of the play of the wind, let's now turn directly to the runways and taxiways. There are a lot of interesting and informative things in this area.

Let's start with the fact that lanes and tracks are marked. Marking is different numbers, signs, stripes, edging. Nothing tricky, but for a careful observer, and even more so for pilots, the markings contain a lot of very valuable information.

On the runways, the markings are white, and if the runways themselves have sufficiently light surfaces, for example, burned out from the bright southern sun, then they are also encircled with black paint in order to increase visibility. The paint is selected in such a way as to minimize the risk of deterioration in the adhesion of the wheels to the strip, and for night flights, special reflective materials are included in the paint composition.

Now let's see what kind of information can be obtained by considering the marking of the runways.

Each paved lane has a personal designation, which is a two-digit number, and if the airport has several parallel lanes, then a letter is added to the number. The number itself is the magnetic landing course of the aircraft rounded to tens. If, after rounding, a number less than ten is obtained, for example, 8, then zero is written in front of it and the number becomes two-digit, in our case 08.

Roughly speaking, if the landing course is equal to 120 degrees, then the strip on one side will receive the designation 12, and on the other, respectively, 30, that is, the difference will be 180 degrees. As a result, the strip will receive the full designation Runway 12/30 or, in our country, runway 12/30. A natural question arises why the strip has two names on both sides. But because planes can land and take off in both directions, depending on the direction of the wind in the airport area.

As for the letters included in the marking of the runway, they are used if there are several parallel lanes in the air harbor. Standard letters - L(eft), C(enter), R(ight) and are used in multi-lane in the following order:

Two parallel stripes - L, R;

Three parallel stripes - L, C, R;

Four parallel stripes - L, R, L, R;

Five parallel stripes - L, C, R, L, R or L, R, L, C, R;

Six parallel stripes - L, C, R, L, C, R.

There is one nuance in the letter marking of the strips if their number is more than three and all these stripes are parallel. Such an order, for example, can be seen at Dallas Airport (USA). In this case, the rounding of the magnetic azimuth of one part of the bands goes to the nearest lower value, and the other part to the nearest larger one.

Dallas airport runways.

Information about landing on one or another lane is also present on the radio during the exchange of landing data between the aircraft crew and the control service, which makes it possible, for example, to orient oneself, if necessary, to take a colorful picture of a landing or taking off aircraft.

By the way, despite the fact that in the photographs the alphanumeric characters look relatively small, their actual dimensions are 9 meters long and 3 meters wide.

We seem to have figured out the numbers and letters, and now let's move on to dashes, stripes and rectangles, which, despite their nondescriptness, can also tell something interesting.

For example, marking the threshold of the runway. What is it, actually, such? And this is a set of longitudinal strips of the same size, placed symmetrically from the center line of the strip and located at a distance of six meters from its end. It would seem that everything is clear, but the number of these lanes will indicate the width of the runway. The general dependence of the number of zebra stripes on the width of the runway is as follows:

4 lanes - runway width 18 meters;

6 lanes - runway width 23 meters;

8 lanes - runway width 30 meters;

12 lanes - runway width 45 meters;

16 lanes - runway width 60 meters.

Thus, the pilot, having looked at the threshold of the runway, instantly gets an idea of ​​its width and suitability for landing for the manned type of aircraft. The width of the runway is very important when landing an aircraft, since the movement of a heavy machine in the transverse direction can be very critical with high crosswinds, various excursions of the aircraft relative to the center line of the runway caused by errors or related physical conditions, for example, runway irregularities or weather conditions.

There are some peculiarities in the rendering of these signs, but in general the given values ​​are standard and are used at all airfields with artificial pavement (asphalt, concrete, asphalt concrete).

A careful observer will certainly notice that the number of runway thresholds sometimes differs somewhat from those given in the table. So, let's say, the "zebra" runway 14R / 32L of Domodedovo airport contains 16 lanes, which really corresponds to its actual width of 60 meters, and the runway 06/24 of Vnukovo airport uses a marking consisting of 14 lanes, which is not formally reflected in the ICAO table. The same discrepancy can be seen on runway 01/19 of the same Vnukovo airport. The explanation is that the number of lanes corresponds to the true width of the runway, enclosed between the outer markers of its edges, which makes it possible to understand exactly within what limits the change in the position of a landing aircraft is permissible.

Runway Domodedovo, Vnukovo with end markers.

The next interesting element in the design of the runway is the aiming point marker. Everyone who looked at photos of airports in Yandex or Google invariably noticed black marks from aircraft tires, neatly concentrated in approximately the same places near the beginning of each runway. What helps pilots to achieve such remarkable precision in the control of the aircraft upon landing? But this very marker helps. It's set up like this.

The LPO marker itself is a pair of highly visible stripes drawn parallel to the runway, the size and spacing of which are determined by several factors.

First, the distance between the aiming point and the end of the runway depends on the length of the runway. The longer the runway, the farther from its start is the aiming marker. For example, if the length of the strip does not exceed 800 meters, then the aiming point lies at a distance of 150 meters from the end, while for a strip longer than 2400 meters it increases to 400.

Secondly, the width of the runway affects the size of the marker blocks. For large runways, their length reaches 10 meters, and the interval is up to 22.5.

In general, everything is thought out in such a way that the aiming point is really noticeable and suitable for full orientation during landing.

The aiming point of landing is organically complemented by the marking of the landing zone. It is in the landing zone that the same black traces from aircraft tires that I mentioned earlier are located. The zone itself consists of paired rectangles located symmetrically with respect to the runway center line. Such markings, as well as aiming points, are applied from both directions of landing of aircraft, and its length and the number of paired marks used also depend on the length of the runway. On short lanes up to 900 meters, one pair of signs is used, and on lanes longer than 2400 meters, six pairs or more may be present.

Aiming point and marking of landing zones.

The parade of runway graphic equipment is completed by the runway edge markings, which indicate the outer edges of the runway.

Now, let's allow ourselves to leave the runway area and head towards the most interesting intricacies of taxiways, aprons and other places where a stormy aviation life takes place. These silent air traffic participants deserve special attention despite their auxiliary purpose. Taxiways, aprons and airport sites is a fairly extensive, interesting and diverse area of ​​​​knowledge.

It is interesting primarily because everything that is located around the runways is a kind of strapping of straight runway arrows, and all the hidden life of the airport boils on these working surfaces. Runways skim the cream off with gorgeous take-offs and soft landings, while taxiways and aprons routinely accept, send cargo and passengers rarely get into beautiful advertising booklets.

We are going to have a short introductory walk through this part of the airfield facilities, during which we will look at some of what is hidden from the eyes of ordinary passengers clinging to the windows.

I'll start with the general requirements for taxiways.

Any airport is created in such a way as to provide maximum throughput while maintaining the proper efficiency of airport operations. To achieve this very efficiency, it is necessary to ensure the right balance between the needs for runways, cargo and passenger terminals, parking areas and aircraft maintenance. All these functional elements are combined with the help of a balanced system of taxiways, which ultimately allows you to optimally operate the air harbor.

These simple and clear theses lead to certain methods of taxiway design, which are to provide an unobstructed, uninterrupted flow of aircraft ground movement at maximum speed and minimum accelerations and decelerations. Efficiency thus also contributes to safety.

In other words, taxiways should bring in and take off the runway for as many aircraft as possible without significant delays. This means that it is important for a landing ship to leave the runway as soon as possible, and for a takeoff ship, it is necessary to take the runway just before the takeoff run.

It seems to be nothing tricky, but if we take into account the size of modern airports, the number of takeoff and landing operations, the volume of goods transported and the intensity of passenger traffic, one can imagine how difficult the engineering task is to create this very transport “piping”.

In order to build such a powerful system, it must be carefully planned. Let's see how highly experienced designers do it. First of all, they undertake to draw up a route map of taxiways. The map is created in such a way as to connect the various elements of the aerodrome over the shortest distances, thus reducing taxi time and costs. Taxiing should not just be short, but also have the simplest possible configuration in order to avoid pilot errors and reduce the cost of developing complex structures. In general, designers like to use straight lines and large turning radii in order to maximize aircraft taxi speed and thereby improve airfield efficiency.

But what they definitely do not like is the intersection of runways and taxiways, as, for example, done in Vnukovo, since such intersections not only reduce overall safety, but also increase delays in the movement of aircraft, nullifying efforts to achieve a high density of flight operations. Designers also do not like “oncoming traffic”, since movement on counter courses sometimes leads to a dangerous approach of aircraft. In its pure form, oncoming traffic is rare, since taxiway routes are laid with the maximum use of one-way segments.

We can also note the security, the relevance of which, in recent years, has increased dramatically. Taxiway routes are built so that they do not pass through areas where there is a possibility of free access for people to aircraft. In addition, when designing, the possibility of committing sabotage or armed aggression is specially assessed and special measures are taken, the description of which is beyond the scope of this material. It can be noted that all sections of the taxiing system must be visually accessible from the airport control tower. If some areas are obscured by buildings or structures, then they are equipped with video surveillance systems, including night vision devices.

If you look at the scheme of this or that airport, you will notice that the taxiways are not just adjacent to the beginning of the runways, but, as it were, frame these main routes of the airports.

Runway with adjacent exit taxiways.

These adjoining tracks are called input and output RDs. Their purpose is to take off the aircraft and quickly withdraw the landed aircraft from the runway. Entry and exit taxiways should be sufficient to meet the handling requirements for aircraft taking off and landing during peak hours.

Yes, yes, airports also have rush hours, and they can be planned, due to the traffic schedule, or they can be emergency, for example, when planes go en masse to alternate airfields during bad weather, or for other important reasons.

Particularly interesting are the principles of planning exit taxiways. The point is that they serve to minimize the time the runway is used by landing aircraft. In other words - sat down, quickly leave the runway, the airport should proceed to the next operation without delay.

And here there is one curious nuance. The exit taxiway may be located either at a right angle or at an acute angle to the runway. It would seem, what's the difference. And there is a very significant difference. The first type of track means that before leaving the runway, the aircraft slowed down to the lowest possible speed and slowly made a 90-degree turn towards the terminal or parking lot. Smoothly, relatively safely, but for a long time ...

The second type of taxiway, located at an acute angle, allows you to leave the lane at a higher speed, completing braking already on the taxiway. This type is called “high-speed output taxiways”. It allows you to increase the capacity of the runway, not only during landings, but also during takeoffs. Those who had a chance to observe the work of airports for a long time noticed that take-offs can be carried out both from the end of the runway and from the middle just using high-speed taxiways to take up the executive start.

It can also be added that the construction of high-speed tracks is more expensive than straight ones, and designers usually balance between cost and efficiency, which is generally a common thing.

But what is really difficult is the forecast for the intensity of the use of the airport in the future, since alterations, expansions and modifications of existing schemes are almost more expensive than the original construction. It is essential that it is necessary to take into account not only the development of the airport, but also the directions of development of civil aviation itself, that is, to imagine what aircraft will be like in, say, ten years, how their weight, dimensions and characteristics will change, how much world trends in routes and navigation will change . In general, a whole cocktail of technical and political predictions.

You can write about taxiways for a long time and juicy, but I won’t do this because I was going to be relatively brief, but I’ll dwell on one more type of taxiway because they often attract the attention of photographers, directors, and ordinary passengers seem very curious. These are taxiways located on bridges.

The layout of the aerodrome, its geographical location, size or length of infrastructure sometimes requires the laying of taxiways over bridges located over roads, railways, water spaces or sea lanes. When building such taxiways, there are some tricks. For example, every motorist knows that bridges and overpasses are fraught with a whole range of dangers in heavy rain, during periods of snow and ice, with poor visibility or gusty winds. At airfields, everything happens in exactly the same way, only the problems are exacerbated by the huge weight of aircraft, the need to provide access to large equipment in case of emergency, as well as the impact of powerful jet streams from aircraft engines on vehicles moving under these bridges. After all, no one wants to get a gigantic blow with a deflated pebble into the windshield of their car.

Without going into deep technical details, I will note that bridges are built with a special degree of strength due to the passage of the heaviest ships accepted by the airport. In addition, these bridges are equipped with side restraints that will help keep the aircraft on the bridge in case of an accident and prevent it from crashing on the heads of astonished drivers. The impact of the jet stream is leveled by special barrier structures made of perforated material, which make it possible to reduce the impact to an acceptable level. After passing through the barrier, the speed of the jet vortex decreases to approximately 15 m/s, which corresponds to a strong wind on the Beaufort scale. Not a calm, of course, but not a hurricane either.

Taxiway passing over the bridge.

Continuing the tour of the airfield of the airport, one cannot fail to mention such elements of it as waiting areas and aprons. Without them, there will be small gaps in our knowledge, and this is a little sad, because then why was all this composed.

Why are waiting areas and so-called bypass routes invented?

The fact is that departure permits are usually given in order of aircraft readiness for takeoff. At small airfields with low flight density, which is about 50-70 takeoffs and landings per day, there is usually no need to make changes to the flight sequence. However, at large airports with a high frequency of traffic, such a need arises. These airports are equipped with rather large aprons and it is sometimes difficult to ensure that aircraft taxi out of the apron in such a way that they approach the end of the runway in the sequence required by the air traffic control services. Holding bays and detours provide flexibility in managing the sequence of departures and thus increase the capacity of the aerodrome. At the same time, both the commercial task of making a profit from the operation of the port is effectively solved, and the degree of comfort for air transport passengers is increased.

The simplest example that can be given is the delay in the departure of an aircraft due to unforeseen circumstances. The use of the site allows not to detain the aircraft following.

In addition to the holding areas themselves, such types of taxiways as twin taxiways and twin runway entrances are actively used. Twin taxiways are, in fact, bypass taxiing, allowing aircraft to move in parallel, and twin entrances are a bifurcation of the taxiway at the entrance to the runway. As an example of a paired entrance, we can cite the infrastructure of the 32L lane of Domodedovo Airport.

Twin entrance to runway 32L of Domodedovo airport.

As for the color graphics of the taxiways, their marking is applied in yellow, in contrast to the white for the runways.

Now let's move on to the aprons of the air harbor. In general, airport aprons are a rather fascinating section, since it is apron operations that directly relate to passengers and cargo, and often aprons are the face of an air transport hub.

To clarify, I will say that an apron is a dedicated area designed to accommodate aircraft for boarding and disembarking passengers, loading and unloading mail or cargo, refueling, parking or maintenance. There are also aircraft stands on the platforms.

This is a general definition. In fact, there are several types of aprons.

The first and most important view is the platform of the passenger terminal. In the area of ​​this platform, boarding is carried out, aircraft are refueled and maintained, passengers are loaded and unloaded. Aircraft parking is organized on the same platforms.

The next view is cargo platforms. They are intended for aircraft carrying only cargo and mail. They usually try to separate cargo and passenger aprons because they use different types of aprons and terminal equipment.

Cargo aircraft in the parking lot.

Passenger and cargo aprons are usually complemented by remote parking areas where aircraft can stay for long periods of time. As a rule, they are used for small technical work or ship inspections. Although these sites are called remote, they are located as close as possible to the main platforms so as to minimize the loading and unloading time, as well as to ensure the proper level of security.

Aprons of general aviation are allocated in a separate type. They are designed to serve business and personal aviation and do not intersect with common areas.

In addition to those listed, there are aprons for maintenance, pre-garage, transit, mooring aprons. Their purpose follows from the names. One can only add that the presence of such aprons significantly increases the airport's capabilities in terms of the volume and quality of aircraft servicing.

Let's go back a little and take a closer look at passenger platforms. It turns out that there are several basic concepts for their construction, which is reflected in the architecture of the terminal part of various airports in the world. It is this architecture that we observe when looking at the airfield from the airport complex while waiting for departure.

Concept N1. Simple.

It's really simple and is used at airports with little traffic. Aircraft in this scheme are parked with the nose to the terminal or the nose away from it and taxi using their own thrust.

The main concern of designers is to provide sufficient distance from the terminal facade to reduce the impact of jets from aircraft engines. Sometimes, however, they manage with jet-deflecting barriers.

Simple airport concept.

Concept N2. Linear.

This is the next level of complexity and some kind of development of a simple concept of architecture.

It differs mainly in that the aircraft are located at an angle to the front line of the terminal, which allows arriving aircraft to taxi to the parking lot faster. The problems that arise with pushing aircraft out of the way are offset by the use of special tractors with experienced personnel.

Linear airport concept.

Concept N3. Landing galleries.

A fairly common architecture at the present time, sometimes called peninsular. Its essence lies in the fact that one or several galleries depart from the terminal building, in which there are exits leading to docked aircraft. Aircraft can be located both at an angle to the gallery, and perpendicular to the nose of the terminal. Sometimes there is a parallel parking of aircraft to the galleries. For designers, the most important thing is to provide enough space between the galleries for the safe maneuvering of aircraft and to group the galleries according to the size of the boards accepted by the airport.

Landing gallery concept.

Concept N4. Island.

As the name implies, this implies the presence of a structure separate from the terminal, surrounded by aircraft parking areas at the boarding gates. Usually, passenger access from the terminal to the island facility is provided by underground or elevated passages, but sometimes access is by surface.

The forms of the island vary. It can be round, oval, square or rectangular structures. Aircraft dock in parallel or in a radial direction.

island concept.

Concept N5. Open platform.

The essence of the concept lies in the fact that the aircraft are located at remote sites while passengers, luggage and cargo are delivered to the parking lots by road. For transportation, special buses-gallery and cargo trolleys are used. Despite some inconvenience for passengers, such a scheme also has its advantages, which include the proximity of aprons to the runway, shortened pre-launch taxi cycles, flexibility in operation and ease of expanding areas.

The concept of an open platform.

Having surveyed the aprons, let's return to the task of the airport and pay attention to the peculiarities of boarding passengers directly on the plane. As you know, the crew and travelers get on board with the help of ladders, such bridges between the deck and the ground.

Most of all, passengers love telescopic ladders and it is clear why. In winter, flying to hot countries, you can go straight from the building to the plane in shorts, and when you arrive, get back to the airport, regardless of the vagaries of the weather in the form of rain, snow and other meteorological surprises. In aeronautical terms, this is called a “direct landing”, people get on board without the use of steps and wasting energy.

Telescopic ladders are of two types - stationary and mobile. The fixed ladder protrudes from the terminal building and can only slightly move apart towards the aircraft with a slight correction in height between the aircraft deck and the terminal floor. A movable telescopic ladder is more complicated. One end of this ladder is pivotally connected to the terminal building, and its other end is on a two-wheeled trolley with an engine. The ladder pivots in the direction of the aircraft and extends until it touches the aircraft door. The end that mates with the aircraft can be raised or lowered significantly, making it possible to use this passenger ladder to serve aircraft with different deck heights.

Teletrap.

In addition to telescopic units, airports also use their simpler counterparts - movable ladders. These old hard workers can be towed to the plane, or they can move independently using gasoline or electric traction and the labor of a driver. Here, passengers will have to use the steps and stand a little in the wind or rain. True, some movable ladders are equipped with a canopy to protect them from the weather, but they will still be dropped off the bus onto an open platform, and nothing can be done about it. By the way, the cost of parking at air bridges is significantly higher than on remote platforms, and many companies save money by reducing the level of comfort for their passengers.

An open ladder and a ladder with a canopy.

I must say that there are still special types of mobile ladders, which are special vehicles, the cabin of which, with the help of hydraulics, rises flush with the aircraft deck. This technique is called autolifts and is used for all kinds of catering operations on board the aircraft, as well as for unloading sick passengers.

Autolift.

Finally, I note the possibility of using the ladders of the aircraft themselves if the aircraft is equipped with such. In this case, the crew lowers the ladder on their own, and the passengers leave the aircraft using it.

The internal ladder of the aircraft.

As we have already seen, the airfield of the airport is a complex conglomerate of road infrastructure with multiple intersections, parallel and corner paths. It is logical to assume that for the safe organization of the coordinated movement of aircraft and road transport, it is necessary to equip this infrastructure with road signs that allow pilots and drivers to freely navigate the airfield.

Indeed, such signs exist and serve to transmit constant or variable graphic information to traffic participants. Signs are placed as close to the surface as possible so as not to catch them with propellers or jet engine nacelles. Another requirement is that aerodrome signs must be fragile and, if they are touched, they will not interfere with the movement of the aircraft.

Signs are of two types - mandatory and indicative. Mandatory signs are made in red with white inscriptions. Each mandatory sign implies that further movement of an aircraft or vehicle is prohibited unless a permissive instruction is received from the aerodrome control tower.

Mandatory signs include runway designation signs, Category I, II, or III holding position signs, runway and en-route holding signs, and No Entry signs.

Mandatory airfield signs.

Signposts use a yellow canvas color and a black font color. Their purpose follows from the name itself. Typically, signs are used to provide information about the direction of travel, the location of certain objects, runway exit points and take-off points from intersections.

Indicative airfield signs.

And now a small digression story regarding how taxiways and runways can be confused even with signs, markings and flight experience.

It was in the glorious city of Oslo….

Oslo airport.

Winter, February 2010. The Airbus A320 aircraft of Aeroflot Airlines began moving from the airport terminal towards the runway for a flight to Moscow. The flight was a daylight flight, or as they say in aviation, the weather conditions were simple. Taxiing was carried out by a commander with vast experience and a total flying time of over 9,000 thousand hours. In addition to the commander and co-pilot, an observer pilot was in the cockpit in an additional seat.

The takeoff was planned from the runway - 01L and the commander decided to carry it out not from the beginning of the runway, but somewhat closer - from the A3 taxiway, perpendicularly adjoining directly to the runway. The decision was due to the fact that the flight was delayed by 25 minutes, and the commander decided to gain time by reducing the taxiing interval. The distances of the continued and aborted takeoff with the remaining runway length (2740 m) made it possible to make a successful takeoff from the point chosen by the commander.

The crew informed the dispatcher about the decision and, having received permission to take off from TWY A3, the aircraft moved towards the line of duty.

As I said, it was winter outside and the taxiway markings were covered with a small layer of snow. The center line was poorly visible and it was difficult for the crew to maintain the given taxiing direction despite the low speed of about 20 knots.

The permission to take off was received just when the plane approached the A3 taxiway and, accordingly, the crew continued to move without stopping at the preliminary and executive starts.

At that moment, the aircraft crew, having made an erroneous decision that they had already reached the runway, taxied onto taxiway M, which runs along runway-01L, and began the takeoff run, which ended in a successful takeoff from the surface at a speed of 143 knots. The fact that the takeoff was made from the taxiway, the crew learned from the controller already in the air, and asked the controller twice to make sure that the information from the ground was correct.

Subsequently, the commander of the ship, the co-pilot and the pilot-observer explained this error by the fact that taxiway M was cleared of snow much better than the runway and the adjacent taxiway, which led to the conclusion that the runway had been successfully reached and it was possible to go for takeoff. It is interesting that the crew of the aircraft did not pay attention to the banners indicating the taxiway and runway, as well as the yellow color of the center line of the taxiway.

A similar incident at the same airport occurred a little earlier with a Boeing-737 aircraft of a Turkish airline, but then the dispatcher managed to notice the erroneous actions of the crew and gave the command to stop the takeoff.

I brought this illustration in order to make it clearer how difficult it is for even trained and experienced crews to work when performing routine taxiing and takeoff operations.

On this, we will complete the day trip around the airfield and wait for the night time of the day in order to contemplate the most beautiful picture of the night illumination of the airfield, and at the same time understand what these or those chains of aviation lights mean.

View of the airfield at night.

Scientifically, these same lights are called lighting equipment, which is necessary for the light designation of the runway and its sections, approaches to the runway, indication of taxiways, as well as to provide aircraft crews with full visual information when taking off, landing and taxiing aircraft.

Aerodrome lights are of low and high intensity. In the specialized literature, they are referred to as LMI (Low Intensity Lights) and JVI (High Intensity Lights).

The difference between HMI and JVI is the strength of the light of the lights used in the systems. A low intensity corresponds to a luminous intensity of less than 10,000 kD (lamps up to 100 W), and a high intensity, to a luminous intensity of more than 10,000 kD (150/200 W lamps).

In addition, there is a certain procedure for turning on airfield lights. In a nutshell, these are the rules.

The lighting system is switched on:

For night flights - 15 minutes before sunset or estimated time of aircraft arrival;

In the daytime - with a visibility of 2000 m or less;

In other cases - at the request of the air traffic control authority or the aircraft crew.

System shuts down:

With the rising of the sun;

In the daytime - with a visibility of more than 2000 m;

In the absence of flights or a break in the arrivals (departures) of aircraft for more than 15 minutes.

The general lighting system of the airport consists of several subsystems of lights, grouped according to certain criteria. Let's look at the contents of each subsystem.

Approach lights subsystem. This group of white lights is designed to indicate to the aircraft crew the direction to the center line of the runway in conditions of limited visibility.

The landing pilot sees these lights as a light path that accurately indicates the true position of the runway. The chain of lights is located from 300 to 900 meters before the beginning of the runway, depending on its category according to ICAO.

In addition to the center line, the subsystem includes crossbar lights located perpendicular to the runway center line lights. Light horizons are needed to create an artificial horizon line, allowing the pilot to judge the roll of the aircraft in relation to the natural horizon of the earth's surface. These lights also emit white light.

There may be several light horizons. In this case, the horizons are located 150 meters apart strictly perpendicular to the runway center line. Interestingly, if additional horizons are included in the system, then the straight lines drawn through their outer lights should converge at the calculated point at a distance of 300 meters behind the runway threshold, indicating the approximate point of contact of the strip with the wheels of the aircraft.

I will add that the approach subsystem is equipped with side rows of red lights, which are installed to the right and left of the center line of the approach lights, forming a clear orientation contour.

Runway approach lights.

The next subsystem is runway side lights, which are located along the entire length of the runway in two parallel rows at the same distance from the center line and no further than three meters from the edge of the declared runway width. The color used is white, except for the section of the lights at the end of the runway where the color of the lights changes to yellow. In addition, the edge lights between the beginning of the runway and the displaced threshold are red. For information - the displaced threshold of the runway, the threshold of the runway, which does not coincide with its physical beginning.

We go further, to the runway entrance lights, which are located in a chain at the runway threshold and serve to indicate the beginning of the runway. The entrance lights use green and radiate strictly in the direction of the approaching aircraft.

Entrance lights are logically complemented by runway limit lights. They are installed at the end of the strip, perpendicular to its axis, no further than three meters from the end of the runway on the outer side of it. There must be at least six of these lights. They use the red color directed towards the runway.

Between the entrance and limiter lights there are several groups of lights that finalize the runway at night and in poor visibility.

These are center line lights, touchdown zone lights and touchdown sign lights. Center line lights indicate the center line of the runway. The color scheme of the center line lights is as follows - from the beginning of the runway to the section located 900 meters before its end, white is used, in the section 900-300 m from the end of the runway, the center line lights emit red and white light alternately, and in the last 300 m meters, the lights emit only red light towards the aircraft moving on the runway.

Touchdown zone lights are used to indicate a touchdown zone on a runway to facilitate landings in poor visibility conditions. The lights are installed in two rows parallel to the runway axis at a distance of 900 m from the runway threshold using white light emission.

Landing sign lights shall be placed in two groups, not less than three lights in each group, on both sides of the runway on a line perpendicular to its axis, at a distance of approximately 300 m from the runway threshold. The color of the radiation is white.

Considering taxiways, we have already talked about high-speed exits from the runway. Those that are located at an acute angle to the strip and allow the ship to leave it at high maneuvering speeds. For such taxiways, special lights are provided that begin at a distance of approximately 300 meters from the junction of the runway and taxiway.

The lights indicating the high-speed taxiway are yellow, while the center line of the taxiway is green. The string of these lights starts near the center line of the runway and continues onto the high-speed taxiway. An interesting nuance in the use of this group of lights can be noted - the lights of the high-speed output indicator do not turn on if any lamp or other element of the indication circuit fails, preventing the image of the full circuit of lights. Here everything is clear and without extended comments. The ship's speed is high and a faulty circuit can lead to serious accidents. In addition, in order to avoid confusion in navigation, these lights are specially shielded in such a way that they can be seen only from a given direction.

As for the taxiways themselves, they have their own color indication scheme to indicate the longitudinal boundaries and the center line of the taxiway. Side taxiing lights emit blue light, while centerline lights emit green.

Taxiway and exit lights.

Another subsystem of airfield lights is associated with warnings for pilots, informing them of the need to stop or completely prohibit movement. These include:

Stop lights designed to prohibit the movement of ships at taxiway intersections, taxiway junctions with the runway or in taxi-holding areas. These lights completely replace daymarks with high intensity lights in poor visibility conditions. Stop lights are unidirectional, red.

Warning lights inform the pilot of the next taxiway intersection. They are installed perpendicular to the taxiway and emit yellow.

Obstacle lights indicate various obstacles and have a red emission color.

Aerodrome light indicators are used for orienting aircraft crews while moving along the aerodrome. These can be special traffic lights that emit red when traffic is prohibited and green when traffic is allowed, as well as yellow pointing arrows.

Finishing the consideration of the airfield light indication, I will casually mention such a group as glide slope lights. For the average observer, full observation of the lights of this subsystem is practically inaccessible, since they are intended for pilots to visually control the landing glide path.

Strictly speaking, glide path lights are groups of light sources grouped in such a way that the pilot can judge the position of the aircraft relative to the calculated glide path during landing.

Each glide path light emits white light at the top and red at the bottom. The angles of the light beams, in combination with the setting of the lights themselves, are arranged so that the pilot, when landing, sees all glide path lights red when the vessel is below the normal glide path and all lights are white when the aircraft is above the normal glide path.

If the aircraft is on a normal glide path, the near horizon lights will be white and the far horizon lights will be red.

Runway glide path lights (left).

This concludes my review. I hope I was able to convey to the reader some idea of ​​the complexity and elegance of building airport infrastructure, as well as how much pilots need to know and be able to successfully work in different parts of the globe.

Everyone who has flown an airplane at least once in their life remembers that feeling of danger when the plane comes in for landing. Now imagine what feelings overcome those who decided to land not at the usual convenient and safe airport, but in some remote place where there are not even asphalt roads, not to mention runways) And to make it easier to imagine , we have prepared for you a list of the ten most dangerous landing strips in the world

For fans of extreme sports, there have already been articles about the most terrible cable cars and exciting rides. I suggest you get another dose of adrenaline by virtually landing on these most dangerous landing strips.
Greenland, despite the confusing name (green - green, land - land), is actually almost completely covered with ice and icebergs. No wonder landing a plane between two tall icebergs is more like sticking your hand in a meat grinder and hoping for the best. this is what the airport in Narsarsuaq looks like, in the sky over the only runway of which it is very cold, windy, and full of air pockets that can cause the plane to simply fall and crash

Lesotho's Mathekane Airport effectively combined a runway and a 700-meter sheer cliff - a combination akin to nosebleeds in a cage with tigers

The situation is aggravated by the fact that the runway itself is quite short, which is why during takeoff the pilots have to literally fall down for some time until the plane finally picks up sufficient speed and levels out. It is somewhat reminiscent of the flight "experiments" of a coyote from an old cartoon about a coyote and a cuckoo)

A similar combination is seen in the world famous French ski resort of Courchevel in the Alps, where a tiny 600-meter runway ends in a cliff from which planes, like in Mathecan, "jump" down upon takeoff. The situation is aggravated by the almost constant icing and strong winds, which makes both landing and takeoff extremely difficult. Therefore, only specially certified professional pilots are allowed here and, as an exception, the Hollywood film actor Pierce Brosnan, who also has excellent piloting skills

Another fun airport is located in the capital of Ecuador. Not only will the runway rock the plane throughout the landing (or takeoff) until the passengers feel bad, there will also be a small bump in the very center on which the plane jumps up and falls back onto the landing gear

The local weather conditions (mostly frequent tropical showers) further aggravate the already imperfect landing, but that's not all - sometimes active volcanoes located nearby also add fun, which launch a pile of ash into the sky, significantly worsening visibility and clogging aircraft engines

The next dangerous airport is on the island of Saba (one of the Antilles) in the Netherlands

This is the most scenic runway on our list.

It is located on a kilometer-long cliff and abruptly breaks off on both sides, although the 430-meter length generally casts doubt on any landing or take-off - the pilot should aim well before landing, otherwise the plane will simply crash on the other side of the runway ...

Another miracle airport located in Scotland is Barra Airport. The Scots did not bother with the landing strip at all - it is replaced by a soft sandy coast, as a result of which pilots constantly have to change their landing strategy based on the position of ocean currents

The runway of Toncontin International Airport in Honduras is striking in its incompetence - cars and planes stand side by side here, and pilots often have to go through a real obstacle course when landing, tacking between cars and trying to save the lives of passengers

If many hours of flying at a great height did not tire you, do not be discouraged, you can continue to enjoy difficult high-altitude conditions here, at the Bangda Tibetan airport, which is the highest in the world, because. is located on a mountain plateau at 4334 meters above sea level. Due to the high sparseness of the air and other factors due to such altitude, the Bangda airport runway stretches for a huge distance - more than 60 football fields could easily fit here! From some fear when landing, the unique views of mountain ranges and clouds hanging above and below them for thousands of kilometers around are completely distracted, although you can still admire them enough during a two-hour trip along narrow, steep, winding, and in general very dangerous mountain roads to the city itself (it is at this distance from it that the airport is located)

Have you ever landed on a golf course?) Well, I think few will answer in the affirmative to such a strange question, but if such a desire is present, then you have a direct road to the capital of Thailand, the city of Bangkok, namely, to one of the two runways Don Mueang International Airport lanes

Initially, Don Mueang was built as a military airport, and the 18-hole golf course was intended for the soldiers to have something to do in their free time) By the way, all this still functions, but if you are color blind, then it’s better to play golf somewhere - somewhere else, because about the approach of the aircraft "golfers" informs a small red light)

If you fly up to the Mwanza airport in Tanzania, take binoculars in your hands and look at the runway, you can probably distinguish a small sign warning that there are a lot of holes on it) In fact, even driving here by car, you can spoil the suspension and tires quite well so get ready for a fun landing)

This article is by no means intended to keep you from flying to the listed locations, in any case the plane will most likely land safely, just before landing, note in advance where the paper bag is, take a deep breath and hope for the best! good landing)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Runway (Runway)- a certain rectangular section of a land aerodrome, prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft.

There are runways with artificial (runway) and unpaved (GWPP) coating.

Designation and dimensions

The runways are marked number usually according to the magnetic course on which they are located. In North America, runways are often numbered according to the true heading. The value of the exchange rate is rounded to the nearest tens. The zero heading is replaced by a 360° heading. For example, at the Novosibirsk Tolmachevo airport, runway-1 has a magnetic heading of 72 °, its designation is runway 07. Any strip is "directed" simultaneously in two directions, the difference between which is equal to 180 °. Therefore, the opposite course is 252°. Thus, the first lane in Tolmachevo will have the designation WFP 07/25. Often at airports with two or more lanes, they are located in parallel - that is, on the same course. In such cases, the letter is added to the numerical designation - L (left), C (central) and R (right). For example, at Chicago Midway Airport, three lanes are located on the same course at once - 136 ° / 316 °. Accordingly, they have the following designations: runway 13L/31R, runway 13C/31C and runway 13R/31L. At the Krasnoyarsk Yemelyanovo airport, the runway is located in close proximity to the Cheremshanka airport runway, so the runway designates runway 29L/11R and runway 29R/11L, respectively. At Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, all four runways follow the same course and are designated as: 8L/26R, 8R/26L, 9L/27R, 9R/27L to avoid confusion.

In the air of radio traffic between pilots and controllers, the runway is called, for example, "Runway Zero Two" or "Runway One Three Center".

The dimensions of the runways can be very different, from very small ones - 300 meters long and 10 meters wide, to huge ones - 5500 meters long (Bamda, Zhukovsky) and up to 80 meters wide. The smallest ones are used for light and ultralight (SLA) aviation. So for example, for a hang glider (motorized hang glider), one hundred meters of takeoff run is enough and the same amount for landing run. The largest runways are being built at major international airports and aircraft factories.

Coating

The coverage for runways (also for taxiways, parking lots) is also used differently. There are unpaved, gravel, asphalt and reinforced concrete strips, and in the latter case, the runways can be both solid-cast and lined with ready-made standard corrugated airfield pavement slabs such as PAG-14, PAG-18, PAG-20 (which differ in load density).
A paved runway is abbreviated "RWY".

Unpaved airfields “limp” in bad weather, which makes it impossible to operate them. During the Second World War and after, an easily assembled coating of steel profiled strips fastened to each other and assembled forming a canvas laid directly on the ground (“Marston mat” made in the USA and K1D made in the USSR) was widely used. Such coverage can still be found at small airfields and especially at heliports.

Lighting equipment

The main task of the lighting equipment (SSO) of the runway is to ensure the safe landing and take-off of aircraft at night and at dusk, as well as in conditions of limited visibility.

The main types of SSOs are low-intensity lights (LI) used for non-categorized landing approaches, and high-intensity lights (HVI) used for I, II, III landing approaches.

JVI is a light strip, most often white - strobes - 500-700 meters long. When landing, the pilot uses strobes to visually control the position of the aircraft relative to the runway heading. The threshold (end) of the band is indicated by an almost continuous line of green lights, located perpendicular to the strobe band. The center line of the runway itself is also marked with white lights. The edges of the runway are yellow. Airfield lighting equipment can be divided into groups of lights arranged in a certain sequence and easily distinguishable when the pilot makes visual contact with the ground.

Groups of signal lights:

1. Constant and pulsed approach lights set along the line of continuation of the axis of the runway. They are intended to indicate to the pilot the direction to the axis of the runway and are used to mark the area between the TUs (see Fig. marker beacon ) and the beginning of the runway. Although pulsed approach lights are recommended in all JVI systems, as practice shows, their use is advisable only during the day in fog, when there is no blinding effect. Proximity lights emit white light.
2. lights of light horizons located perpendicular to the line of continuation of the axis of the runway, creating an artificial horizon. Light horizons provide information to the pilot about the aircraft's lateral roll relative to the runway surface. Light horizon lights emit white light.
3. entrance lights installed at the threshold of the runway. They are designed to indicate the beginning of the runway (its end) and emit green light.
4. Landing sign lights set at a distance of 150-300 m from the runway threshold perpendicular to the runway axis in the form of a small light horizon outside the runway. Landing sign lights emit white light.
5. Restriction lights mark the end of the runway and emit a red light.
6. Touchdown zone lights are used to mark a touchdown area on a runway to facilitate landings in conditions of poor visibility. The lights are installed in two rows parallel to the runway axis at a section of 900 m from the runway threshold. They emit white light.
7. Side lights KPB and the lights of the touchdown zone, located in one row, form a light corridor, by which the pilot easily determines the correctness of the approach to the runway axis.
8. Glide path lights are intended to indicate the visual glide path of planning. The type, number and arrangement of glide path lights are determined by the assignment for the design of the aerodrome. There are several standard layouts for glide slope lights. So, for example, one of the standard schemes for visual indication of the planning glide path includes 12 glide slope lights placed according to the following scheme: two pairs of flank horizons (near and far), three lights in each horizon. The near horizon is located at a distance of 150 m from the runway threshold, the far one - at a distance of 210 m from the near one. Each glide path light emits white light at the top and red at the bottom. The angles of distribution of light beams and the installation of glide path lights must be such that the pilot, when approaching for landing, sees:
   • all glide path lights are red when the aircraft is below the normal glide path and all lights are white when the aircraft is above the normal glide path;
   • near-horizon lights are white, and far-horizon lights are red when the aircraft is on a normal glide path.
9. landing lights are placed on both sides along the runway and designate the lateral longitudinal sides of the runway. With the help of landing lights, 600-meter sections along the ends of the runway are marked. In these areas, the landing lights emit yellow light, in the rest - white.
10. Lights of an end lane of braking (KPT)- axial, central row and side - installed only in the OVI-P, OVI-P1 lighting systems before the start of the runway on a section 300 m long. They are designed to indicate the direction to the runway axis, give information to the pilot about the width of the touchdown zone, the moment the leveling starts. The axial and central lights of the KPB emit white light, and the side lights of the KPB emit red.
11. Axial lights The runways are designed to indicate to the pilot the longitudinal axis of the runway during landing and takeoff of the aircraft. To code runway segments, centerline lights mounted on the last 300 m of the runway for each direction of landing shall emit a red light in the direction of the aircraft moving on the runway. In the section 900-300 m from the end of the runway, the center line lights emit red and white light alternately, and in the rest of the section to the threshold of the runway - white. Centerline lights are used when operating aircraft with high landing speeds, as well as when the runway is more than 50 m wide.
12. Quick exit lights from the runway are located on high-speed exit taxiways and are designed for taxiing at high speed (60 km/h or more) when exiting the runway in order to increase runway capacity. The lights emit green light. Runway exit lights are installed on exit taxiways with a large rounding angle. They are intended for use during runway exits. The lights also emit green light. Runway exit lights and rapid exit lights must be shielded so that they are only visible in the intended direction.
13. Side and axle taxiing lights serve respectively to indicate the longitudinal boundaries and the center line of the taxiways. Side taxiing lights emit blue light, while centerline lights emit green.
14. stop lights designed to prohibit aircraft movement at taxiway intersections, taxiway junctions with the runway, or taxi-holding areas. They complement traffic lights or replace daytime markings with high-intensity lights in poor visibility conditions. Stop lights are unidirectional and emit red light.
15. warning lights are designed to warn the pilot of the nearest intersection of taxiways. The lights are installed in the form of a light horizon perpendicular to the taxiway axis. They emit yellow light.
16. Obstruction lights are intended for light marking of obstacles in the area of ​​the aerodrome, emit red light and must be installed in accordance with the “Manual on the Civil Aviation Aerodrome Service”.
17. Aerodrome light indicators make it easier for the crew to orient themselves at the airfield when taxiing, as well as when the aircraft is moving along the airfield. There are two types of lights - controlled and uncontrolled. Managed include traffic lights and pointers. Traffic lights that prohibit movement should emit red light, allowing - green, and arrows (light indicators of the direction of movement) - yellow light. The color design of uncontrolled light-signal signs is determined by their purpose. On the working field of a rectangular sign, as a rule, there is only one symbol in the form of a letter, number or arrow. The shapes and sizes of symbols comply with ICAO recommendations.

Runway markings

Marking is necessary for accurate and safe landing of the aircraft on the runway. Runway markings are very different from road markings.

From left to right:

• End safety lane, KPB(yellow chevrons). Designed to protect the earth's surface from being blown by powerful jets of jet engine exhaust (so as not to destroy the surface, not to raise dust, etc.), as well as for cases of overrunning the runway. Aircraft are prohibited from being on the PBC, because its surface is not designed for their weight.
• Moved Threshold(or offset end, white arrows) - a runway area where taxiing, takeoff and run of aircraft are allowed, but not landing.
• Threshold(or butt, white stripes in the form of a "zebra") - the beginning of the runway, indicates the beginning of the place where you can land. The threshold is made so in order to be visible from afar. The number of lines depends on the width of the runway.
• Marked number and, if necessary, a letter (L / L - left, R / R - right C / C - central)
• landing zone(double parallel rectangles, starting 300 m from the runway threshold).
• Fixed Distance Marks(large rectangles are located after 150 m). With an ideal landing, the pilot “holds” the landing zone with his eyes, and the touch occurs directly in the landing zone.

A necessary markup attribute is also the center line and sometimes the side lines. The diagram does not show the aerodrome fix (ACP), which is indicated on the geometric center of the runway as a white circle. If an aerodrome has more than one runway, then the CTA is drawn only on the main (largest) runway of the aerodrome.

Active (working) band

Active lane (working lane)- this is the runway used for takeoffs and (or) landings of aircraft at a given time.

The main factor in choosing a runway for landing or takeoff is the direction of the wind. It follows from the laws of aerodynamics that with a headwind, the ground speed of an aircraft decreases, which in practice means a decrease in the length of the takeoff run and landing run, which, in turn, has a positive effect on flight safety. In this regard, preference is given to the strip on which the component of the headwind is the largest, and the side wind is the smallest. In practice, an operating runway can be determined even with a tailwind component. Repair work, malfunction of landing equipment, ornithological conditions and even an aircraft accident are factors that can affect the choice of runway.

At airports with one or more parallel runways, pilots often have to land aircraft with crosswinds up to 90°. But at large airports, the lanes are often placed at an angle to each other. For example, there are four runways at the San Francisco airport - one pair of runways parallel to each other is almost perpendicularly intersected by another pair of parallel runways. At Las Vegas Airport, which also has four runways, the angle between two pairs of parallel runways is 60°. And at Chicago's largest airport, O'Hare, there are six runways in three different directions. This lane configuration often makes life easier for pilots and controllers. But even here there are drawbacks - the very fact of crossing lanes already carries a certain danger.

Airports with two or more lanes often use one lane for takeoff and the other for landing. So, in Moscow Sheremetyevo runway 06R / 24L is mainly used only for take-off, and 06L / 24R - for landing. However, due to the proximity of the lanes, it is not allowed to perform these operations simultaneously (one of the conditions for permitting the joint operation of parallel runways is the fulfillment of the requirement: the distance between the lanes must be more than 1.5-2 km).

The longest runways in the world

The shortest runways in the world

Additionally

• At Gibraltar Airport, which is located in a very confined space, the runway crosses a road where there is a crossing ( 36°09′05″ s. sh. 5°20′55″ W d. /  36.1512777° N. sh. 5.3487217° W d. / 36.1512777; -5.3487217(G) (I)), similar to the railway.
• At the airport of the New Zealand city of Gisborne ( 38°39′57″ S sh. 177°58′40″ E d. /  38.6658545°S sh. 177.9776868° E d. / -38.6658545; 177.9776868(G) (I)) and at the Dzyomgi experimental airfield ( 50°36′50″ s. sh. 137°04′53″ E d. /  50.6139264° N sh. 137.0812708° E d. / 50.6139264; 137.0812708(G) (I)) (Russia) there are railway crossings at the intersection of the runway and railway lines.
• The only airport in the world without a runway is Barra Airport ( 57°01′31″ s. sh. 7°26′57″ W d. /  57.0252062° N. sh. 7.4491382° W d. / 57.0252062; -7.4491382(G) (I)), located on the Isle of Barra in Scotland (UK). The plane lands right on the sand at low tide, at places marked with wooden signs. Since the airport is located directly on the beach, a wind indicator rises before the aircraft is received or departed, which is not only an indicator of the strength and direction of the wind for the aircraft crew, but also a requirement for vacationers to vacate the airport area. Accordingly, the airport does not operate at high tide, as its territory is flooded.
• One of the most original runways is the runway of the Portuguese Airport on the island of Madeira (Funchal Airport or Santa Catarina Airport), part of which is a flyover. In addition, a highway passes under the runway.

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An excerpt characterizing the runway

Meanwhile, the city itself was empty. There was hardly anyone on the streets. The gates and shops were all locked; in some places, near the taverns, lonely cries or drunken singing were heard. No one traveled the streets, and footsteps of pedestrians were rarely heard. On Povarskaya it was completely quiet and deserted. In the huge yard of the Rostovs' house, there were scraps of hay, droppings of a convoy that had left, and not a single person was visible. In the Rostovs' house, which was left with all its goodness, two people were in a large living room. They were the janitor Ignat and the Cossack Mishka, Vasilyich's grandson, who remained in Moscow with his grandfather. Mishka opened the clavichords and played them with one finger. The janitor, akimbo and smiling joyfully, stood in front of a large mirror.
- That's clever! A? Uncle Ignat! said the boy, suddenly clapping both hands on the keys.
- Look you! answered Ignat, marveling at how his face was smiling more and more in the mirror.
- Shameless! Right, shameless! - the voice of Mavra Kuzminishna, who quietly entered, spoke from behind them. - Eka, fat watchman, he bares his teeth. To take you! Everything is not tidied up there, Vasilyich is knocked off his feet. Give it time!
Ignat, straightening his belt, ceasing to smile and meekly lowering his eyes, went out of the room.
“Aunty, I’ll take it easy,” said the boy.
- I'll give you a little. Shooter! shouted Mavra Kuzminishna, waving her hand at him. - Go build a samovar for your grandfather.
Mavra Kuzminishna, brushing off the dust, closed the clavichords and, with a heavy sigh, went out of the drawing room and locked the front door.
Going out into the yard, Mavra Kuzminishna thought about where she should go now: should I drink tea with Vasilyich in the wing or tidy up everything that had not yet been tidied up in the pantry?
Footsteps were heard in the quiet street. The steps stopped at the gate; the latch began to knock under the hand that tried to unlock it.
Mavra Kuzminishna went up to the gate.
- Who do you need?
- Count, Count Ilya Andreevich Rostov.
- Who are you?
- I'm an officer. I would like to see, - said a Russian pleasant and lordly voice.
Mavra Kuzminishna unlocked the gate. And a round-faced officer, about eighteen years old, with a type of face similar to the Rostovs, entered the yard.
- Let's go, father. They deigned to leave at Vespers yesterday,” said Mavra Kuzmipisna affectionately.
The young officer, standing at the gate, as if hesitant to enter or not to enter, clicked his tongue.
“Oh, what a shame!” he said. - I wish yesterday ... Oh, what a pity! ..
Mavra Kuzminishna, meanwhile, carefully and sympathetically looked at the familiar features of the Rostov breed in the face of a young man, and the tattered overcoat, and worn-out boots that were on him.
Why did you need a count? she asked.
– Yeah… what to do! - the officer said with annoyance and took hold of the gate, as if intending to leave. He again hesitated.
– Do you see? he suddenly said. “I am related to the count, and he has always been very kind to me. So, you see (he looked at his cloak and boots with a kind and cheerful smile), and he wore himself, and there was nothing; so I wanted to ask the count ...
Mavra Kuzminishna did not let him finish.
- You could wait a minute, father. One minute, she said. And as soon as the officer released his hand from the gate, Mavra Kuzminishna turned and with a quick old woman's step went to the backyard to her outbuilding.
While Mavra Kuzminishna was running towards her, the officer, lowering his head and looking at his torn boots, smiling slightly, walked around the yard. “What a pity that I did not find my uncle. What a nice old lady! Where did she run? And how can I find out which streets are closer for me to catch up with the regiment, which should now approach Rogozhskaya? thought the young officer at that time. Mavra Kuzminishna, with a frightened and at the same time resolute face, carrying a folded checkered handkerchief in her hands, came out around the corner. Before reaching a few steps, she, unfolding her handkerchief, took out of it a white twenty-five-ruble note and hastily gave it to the officer.
- If their excellencies were at home, it would be known, they would, for sure, by kindred, but maybe ... now ... - Mavra Kuzminishna became shy and confused. But the officer, without refusing and without haste, took the paper and thanked Mavra Kuzminishna. “As if the count were at home,” Mavra Kuzminishna kept saying apologetically. - Christ be with you, father! God save you, - said Mavra Kuzminishna, bowing and seeing him off. The officer, as if laughing at himself, smiling and shaking his head, ran almost at a trot through the empty streets to catch up with his regiment to the Yauzsky bridge.
And Mavra Kuzminishna stood for a long time with wet eyes in front of the closed gate, shaking her head thoughtfully and feeling an unexpected surge of maternal tenderness and pity for the unknown officer.

In the unfinished house on Varvarka, at the bottom of which there was a drinking house, drunken screams and songs were heard. There were about ten factory workers sitting on benches by the tables in a small, dirty room. All of them, drunk, sweaty, with cloudy eyes, tensing up and opening their mouths wide, sang some kind of song. They sang apart, with difficulty, with an effort, obviously not because they wanted to sing, but only to prove that they were drunk and walking. One of them, a tall blond fellow in a clean blue coat, stood over them. His face, with a thin, straight nose, would have been beautiful, if not for thin, pursed, constantly moving lips and cloudy, frowning, motionless eyes. He stood over those who were singing, and, apparently imagining something, solemnly and angularly waved over their heads a white hand rolled up to the elbow, whose dirty fingers he unnaturally tried to spread out. The sleeve of his chuyka was constantly going down, and the fellow diligently rolled it up again with his left hand, as if there was something especially important in the fact that this white sinewy waving arm was always naked. In the middle of the song, shouts of a fight and blows were heard in the hallway and on the porch. The tall fellow waved his hand.
- Sabbath! he shouted commandingly. - Fight, guys! - And he, without ceasing to roll up his sleeve, went out onto the porch.
The factory workers followed him. The factory workers, who were drinking in the tavern that morning, led by a tall fellow, brought leather from the factory to the kisser, and for this they were given wine. The blacksmiths from the neighboring smithies, having heard the revelry in the tavern and believing that the tavern was broken, wanted to break into it by force. A fight broke out on the porch.
The kisser was fighting the blacksmith at the door, and while the factory workers were leaving, the blacksmith broke away from the kisser and fell face down on the pavement.
Another blacksmith rushed through the door, leaning on the kisser with his chest.
The fellow with his sleeve rolled up on the move still hit the blacksmith, who was rushing through the door, in the face and shouted wildly:
- Guys! ours are being beaten!
At this time, the first blacksmith rose from the ground and, scratching the blood on his broken face, shouted in a weeping voice:
- Guard! Killed!.. They killed a man! Brothers!..
- Oh, fathers, killed to death, killed a man! screeched the woman who came out of the next gate. A crowd of people gathered around the bloodied blacksmith.
“It wasn’t enough that you robbed the people, took off your shirts,” said a voice, turning to the kisser, “why did you kill a man? Robber!
The tall fellow, standing on the porch, with cloudy eyes led first to the kisser, then to the blacksmiths, as if thinking with whom he should now fight.
- Soulbreaker! he suddenly shouted at the kisser. - Knit it, guys!
- How, I tied one such and such! the kisser shouted, brushing aside the people who had attacked him, and tearing off his hat, he threw it on the ground. As if this action had some mysteriously menacing significance, the factory workers, who surrounded the kisser, stopped in indecision.
- I know the order, brother, very well. I'll go private. Do you think I won't? No one is ordered to rob anyone! shouted the kisser, raising his hat.
- And let's go, you go! And let's go ... oh you! the kisser and the tall fellow repeated one after another, and together they moved forward along the street. The bloodied blacksmith walked beside them. Factory workers and strangers followed them with a voice and a cry.
At the corner of Maroseyka, opposite a large house with locked shutters, on which there was a sign for a shoemaker, about twenty shoemakers, thin, weary people in dressing gowns and tattered chuikki, stood with sad faces.
"He's got the people right!" said a thin artisan with a thin beard and furrowed brows. - Well, he sucked our blood - and quit. He drove us, drove us - all week. And now he brought it to the last end, and he left.
Seeing the people and the bloody man, the artisan who spoke fell silent, and all the shoemakers joined the moving crowd with hasty curiosity.
- Where are the people going?
- It is known where, to the authorities goes.
- Well, did our strength really not take it?
- How did you think? Look what the people are saying.
There were questions and answers. The kisser, taking advantage of the increase in the crowd, lagged behind the people and returned to his tavern.
The tall fellow, not noticing the disappearance of his enemy the kisser, waving his bare hand, did not stop talking, thus drawing everyone's attention to himself. The people mainly pressed against him, assuming from him to obtain permission from all the questions that occupied them.
- He show the order, show the law, the authorities have been put on that! Is that what I say, Orthodox? said the tall fellow, smiling slightly.
- He thinks, and there are no bosses? Is it possible without a boss? And then rob it is not enough of them.
- What an empty talk! - echoed in the crowd. - Well, they will leave Moscow then! They told you to laugh, and you believed. How many of our troops are coming. So they let him in! For that boss. There, listen to what the people are doing, - they said, pointing to a tall fellow.
At the wall of China Town, another small group of people surrounded a man in a frieze overcoat, holding paper in his hands.
- Decree, decree read! Decree read! - was heard in the crowd, and the people rushed to the reader.
A man in a frieze overcoat was reading a poster dated August 31st. When the crowd surrounded him, he seemed to be embarrassed, but at the demand of the tall fellow who squeezed his way up to him, with a slight trembling in his voice, he began to read the poster from the beginning.
“Tomorrow I’m going early to the most serene prince,” he read (brightening! - solemnly, smiling with his mouth and frowning his eyebrows, repeated the tall fellow), “to talk with him, act and help the troops exterminate the villains; we will also become a spirit from them ... - the reader continued and stopped (“Did you see it?” - the small one shouted triumphantly. - He will unleash the whole distance for you ...”) ... - eradicate and send these guests to hell; I’ll come back for dinner, and we’ll get down to business, we’ll do it, we’ll finish it and finish off the villains. ”
The last words were read by the reader in perfect silence. The tall fellow lowered his head sadly. It was obvious that no one understood these last words. In particular, the words: "I'll arrive tomorrow at dinner," apparently even upset both the reader and the listeners. The understanding of the people was tuned to a high tune, and this was too simple and needlessly understandable; it was the very thing that each of them could have said, and that therefore a decree from a higher authority could not speak.
Everyone stood in gloomy silence. The tall fellow moved his lips and staggered.
“I should have asked him!.. Is that himself?.. Why, he asked! two mounted dragoons.
The police chief, who went that morning on the count's order to burn the barges and, on the occasion of this order, rescued a large sum of money that was in his pocket at that moment, seeing a crowd of people advancing towards him, ordered the coachman to stop.
- What kind of people? he shouted at the people, who were approaching the droshky, scattered and timid. - What kind of people? I'm asking you? repeated the chief of police, who received no answer.
“They, your honor,” said the clerk in a frieze overcoat, “they, your honor, at the announcement of the most illustrious count, not sparing their stomachs, wanted to serve, and not just some kind of rebellion, as it was said from the most illustrious count ...
“The count has not left, he is here, and there will be an order about you,” said the chief of police. – Went! he said to the coachman. The crowd stopped, crowding around those who had heard what the authorities said, and looking at the departing droshky.
The police chief at this time looked around in fright, said something to the coachman, and his horses went faster.
- Cheating, guys! Lead to yourself! shouted the voice of the tall fellow. - Don't let go, guys! Let him submit a report! Hold on! shouted the voices, and the people ran after the droshky.
The crowd behind the police chief with a noisy conversation headed for the Lubyanka.
“Well, gentlemen and merchants have left, and that’s why we’re disappearing?” Well, we are dogs, eh! – was heard more often in the crowd.

On the evening of September 1, after his meeting with Kutuzov, Count Rastopchin, upset and offended that he was not invited to the military council, that Kutuzov did not pay any attention to his proposal to take part in the defense of the capital, and surprised by the new look that opened to him in the camp , in which the question of the calmness of the capital and its patriotic mood turned out to be not only secondary, but completely unnecessary and insignificant - upset, offended and surprised by all this, Count Rostopchin returned to Moscow. After supper, the count, without undressing, lay down on the couch and at one o'clock was awakened by a courier who brought him a letter from Kutuzov. The letter said that since the troops were retreating to the Ryazan road beyond Moscow, would it please the count to send police officials to lead the troops through the city. This news was not news to Rostopchin. Not only from yesterday’s meeting with Kutuzov on Poklonnaya Gora, but also from the Battle of Borodino itself, when all the generals who came to Moscow unanimously said that it was impossible to give another battle, and when, with the permission of the count, state property and up to half of the inhabitants were already taken out every night. we left, - Count Rostopchin knew that Moscow would be abandoned; but nevertheless this news, reported in the form of a simple note with an order from Kutuzov and received at night, during the first dream, surprised and annoyed the count.
Subsequently, explaining his activities during this time, Count Rostopchin wrote several times in his notes that he then had two important goals: De maintenir la tranquillite a Moscou et d "en faire partir les habitants. [Keep calm in Moscow and expel from If we admit this dual purpose, any action of Rostopchin turns out to be irreproachable. Why weren’t the Moscow shrines, weapons, cartridges, gunpowder, grain supplies taken out, why were thousands of residents deceived by the fact that Moscow would not be surrendered, and ruined? in order to keep calm in the capital, answers the explanation of Count Rostopchin. Why were piles of unnecessary papers taken out of government offices and Leppich's ball and other objects? - In order to leave the city empty, the explanation of Count Rostopchin answers. One has only to assume that something threatened people's peace, and every action becomes justified.
All the horrors of terror were based only on concern for the people's peace.
What was the basis of Count Rostopchin's fear of public peace in Moscow in 1812? What reason was there to suppose a tendency to rebellion in the city? Residents were leaving, the troops, retreating, filled Moscow. Why should the people revolt as a result of this?
Not only in Moscow, but throughout Russia, when the enemy entered, there was nothing resembling indignation. On the 1st and 2nd of September, more than ten thousand people remained in Moscow, and, apart from the crowd that had gathered in the courtyard of the commander-in-chief and attracted by him, there was nothing. It is obvious that even less one should have expected unrest among the people if, after the Battle of Borodino, when the abandonment of Moscow became obvious, or at least probably, if then, instead of disturbing the people with the distribution of weapons and posters, Rostopchin took measures to the removal of all sacred things, gunpowder, charges and money, and would directly announce to the people that the city was being abandoned.
Rostopchin, an ardent, sanguine man, who always moved in the highest circles of the administration, although with a patriotic feeling, had not the slightest idea about the people he thought to rule. From the very beginning of the enemy's entry into Smolensk, Rastopchin in his imagination formed for himself the role of the leader of the people's feelings - the heart of Russia. It not only seemed to him (as it seems to every administrator) that he controlled the external actions of the inhabitants of Moscow, but it seemed to him that he directed their mood through his appeals and posters, written in that jarring language, which in its midst despises the people and whom he does not understands when he hears it from above. Rastopchin liked the beautiful role of the leader of popular feeling so much, he got used to it so much that the need to get out of this role, the need to leave Moscow without any heroic effect took him by surprise, and he suddenly lost the ground on which he stood from under his feet, in resolutely did not know what to do. Although he knew, he did not believe with all his heart until the last minute in leaving Moscow and did nothing to this end. Residents moved out against his will. If government offices were taken out, then only at the request of officials, with whom the count reluctantly agreed. He himself was busy only with the role that he had made for himself. As is often the case with people endowed with ardent imagination, he had known for a long time that Moscow would be abandoned, but he knew only by reasoning, but he did not believe in it with all his heart, he was not transported by his imagination to this new situation.

Are you afraid to fly? Psychologists consider the fear of flying one of the most difficult psychological problems: some shudder even at the mere thought of getting on a plane and taking off from the ground. Sometimes this fear becomes a serious obstacle for such people to move freely around the world and see many wonderful distant countries. According to some studies, the fear of flying is exacerbated when it comes to security issues, including at the airport.

In this issue, we will tell you about the 25 most terrible airports in the world, in which horror is born long before you get on the plane.

1. Wellington International Airport, New Zealand.

Landing at this airport can be very dangerous, because there is only one - and even then a short - runway, which also ends ... in the sea. Despite this, it is very picturesque here, so this airport can be called not only one of the most dangerous, but also one of the most beautiful.

2. Agatti Airport, Lakshadweep, India.

This airport is surrounded on all sides by the Indian Ocean, which naturally raises the question: what happens if something goes wrong during landing or the pilot simply does not have enough room to brake? The 1219 m long airfield is so small that it looks like a fragment of a larger runway, part of which seems to have gone under the sea. Due to the dangers that short runways carry, it has been proposed more than once to stretch it, but for now, flights continue as normal, because. this is the only airport in Lakshadweep - Indian territory, consisting of 36 luxurious exotic islands.

3. Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, USA.

Of course, this is not such a "dangerous" airport (compared to others on this list), but there is something unusual about it. If you ever drive a taxi along runway 10 at this airport, you might see something creepy. The fact is that a couple of ... graves are engraved on strip 10. They belong to the former owners of the land on which the airport now stands - their last wish was to be buried here.

4. Narsarsuaq Airport, Greenland.

Landing at this naturally beautiful and one of the most remote airports on the planet can be either the most amazing or the scariest experience - either way, unforgettable. But for pilots, this is, without a doubt, a nightmare, because. in order to land here, you need to fly along the fjord in constant fear of getting into turbulence, which happens even on seemingly calm days.

5. Kansai International Airport, Japan.

The dimensions of the artificial island of Kansai are 4 km long and 2.5 km wide - they say it is even visible from space. From an engineering point of view, the local airport is one of the most impressive in the world, but unfortunately, frequent earthquakes, powerful cyclones and unstable seabed make this masterpiece of engineering one of the most dangerous airports in the world.

6. Don Mueang International Airport, Thailand.

This is a "deceptive" airport, in which at first glance there is nothing unusual. However, if you look closely, you will notice a rather strange thing: right in the center of two runways, someone managed to squeeze in ... an 18-hole golf course. This makes this airport not only one of the most dangerous, but also one of the strangest.

7. Paro Airport, Bhutan.

The fact that only 8 pilots worldwide are qualified enough to land here should already tell you a lot. But if that's not enough, you'll probably also be interested in the fact that Paro Airport is located 2.4 km above sea level and is surrounded by sharp five-thousander peaks, and the runway is only 1980 m long. Finally, there are rumors that passengers who venture to land at this tiny airport in the Himalayas routinely take sedative pills to get their nerves in order.

8. Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong.

Many pilots considered this place the most terrible airport, and that is why it was closed in 1998. Strong crosswinds and the surrounding mountains only added to the difficulty of the landing, and at one time this place was the most unpopular among the locals. No wonder this airport is called "the father of all the most terrible airports."

9. Barra International Airport, Scotland.

This is a truly unique airport on the planet, because instead of a runway, it uses ... a beach. Yes, yes, you read everything correctly: there are three runways in the shape of a triangle on the beach, and they are marked with wooden poles at the ends.

10. Congonhas Airport, Brazil.

The most dangerous and at the same time strange thing about this airport is the fact that it is only 8 km from the city center. If you are a frequent traveler, you should know that the most populous and largest cities in the world usually build their airports on the outskirts or even a few kilometers from the city limits for security reasons, but apparently the people of São Paulo have not heard of this. As a result, every landing of an aircraft at this airport becomes a real test in terms of safety.

11. Gisborne Airport, New Zealand.

It may sound like an exaggeration, but this is probably one of the craziest airports in the world. Why? Yes, because the railway runs right across the main runway. Yes, a real railroad! Dispatchers must coordinate takeoffs and landings with the arrival of trains. And even though the road was closed recently after hurricane damage, the airport is still in operation, albeit with only cargo flights since 2001.

12. Tenzing and Hilary Airport, Nepal.

In 2010, the History Channel called this airport the most dangerous in the world. It is located at an altitude of 2900 meters, and its runway is framed by a high mountain on one side and a deep abyss on the other. Ideal landing conditions, right?

13. Los Angeles International Airport, USA.

Los Angeles Airport has been called the most dangerous in the United States more than once. It hosts an "intensive training program" for pilots, controllers and vehicle operators on situational hazards and other aspects of runway safety.

14. Courchevel Airport, France.

This is one of the most dangerous airports in the world, despite the fact that it serves the rich who fly in to ski in the French Alps. To get to the resort of the same name, you must first experience a breathtaking landing at the airport. The runway is only 518 m long, but the best "surprise" is a hill somewhere in the middle of the runway.

15. Old Mariscal Sucre International Airport, Ecuador.

It was a real nightmare even for the most experienced pilots. For starters, the airport was at a high altitude, in the heart of the densely populated capital of Ecuador, which greatly increased the risk factor. Moreover, the mountainous terrain, active volcanoes and the valley, which was constantly covered in fog, only made landings and takeoffs at this airport more difficult. But that's not all: the runway was uneven, there were a lot of bumps on it. Fortunately, the airport was finally closed last year and a new one was built.

16. Toncotin International Airport, Honduras.

On the History Channel's list of the most dangerous airports in the world, this was ranked second, and for good reason. Its runway is located in a valley surrounded by mountains, and the “entry” and “exit” for aircraft are in the same place, which, of course, increases the risk of a tragedy. Surprisingly, despite this, even Boeing 757s land at and depart from this airport every day.

17. Gibraltar airport.

At first glance, it may seem that the airport is quite ordinary, but take a closer look and you will realize that this is not the case. Undoubtedly, the most exceptional fact is that the main runway passes through the main street of the city. Yes Yes. I mean, every time a plane is supposed to land, the cars have to stop and let the train pass... we mean the plane, of course.

18. Madeira Airport, Portugal.

This small international airport on the beautiful island of Madeira has a very short runway. And this despite the fact that in 2003 its length was doubled. In addition, the ocean surrounds it on one side, and the mountains on the other. The airport is considered one of the most dangerous in the world.

To land at this one of the busiest airports in the Caribbean, pilots fly over the beach, cross the fence, fly over the road, and then finally land.

20. Ice Airport, Antarctica.

It is one of the three main runways used to transport supplies and researchers to McMurdo Station in Antarctica. It is designed even for Boeing 757 and heavy cargo aircraft. At the moment, the main dangers of the airport are weather conditions, not the location of the airport itself.

21. King Fahd International Airport, Saudi Arabia.

It is the largest airport in the world in terms of land area - it stretches for 300 square meters. miles of desert. The local airport is so huge that - believe it or not - the pilots themselves sometimes find it difficult to say where it begins and where it ends, because. from a great distance it merges with the surrounding desert.

22. Cleveland Hopkiss International Airport, USA.

Technically, there is nothing wrong with the location or layout of this airport, but it has the most irresponsible staff in the world. Once, a night air traffic controller was accused of watching a movie instead of directing planes. And on another occasion, administrators complained that the night shift controllers were sleeping during breaks or playing electronic games if the flight schedule was not too tight.

23. Gastaf III Airport, St. Barthelemy.

This airport has an incredibly short runway, which usually handles small aircraft with a capacity of no more than 20 passengers. There is a strip at the base of the slope, which ends at the beach. In addition, planes pose a danger already on approach due to hilly terrain, and takeoff generally takes place almost over the heads of vacationers on the beach.

24. Bamda Airport, Tibet.

Tibet is located in the highest mountains of the world - the Himalayas, so it is not surprising that Bamda Airport is one of the highest located in the world, it is located at an altitude of more than 4000 meters. The most interesting thing is that the length of the runway is almost 5 km, i.e. it is the longest runway in the world. The low oxygen content at such altitudes can cause discomfort for newcomers to the area, and also reduces the performance of aircraft engines, which makes landing here a real challenge.

25. Airport on the island of Saba.

The path to this beautiful Caribbean island can be a nightmare for you, because. the airport is a single runway 396m long. Surrounded by high cliffs, this short runway (which would probably make a great place for a skateboarding competition) almost ends in the ocean. It is clear that large aircraft simply will not be able to land here, but this is not easy even for corn growers.

Designation and dimensions

Runway clearance

The runways are marked number usually according to the magnetic course on which they are located. In North America, runways are often numbered according to the true heading. The heading value is rounded up to tens and divided by 10. The zero heading is replaced by the 360 ​​° heading. For example, at the Novosibirsk Tolmachevo airport, runway-1 has a magnetic heading of 72 °, its designation is runway 07. Any strip is "directed" simultaneously in two directions, the difference between which is equal to 180 °. Therefore, the opposite course is 252°. Thus, the first lane in Tolmachevo will have the designation WFP 07/25.

Often at airports with two or more lanes, they are located in parallel - that is, on the same course. In such cases, the letter is added to the numerical designation - L (left), C (central) and R (right). For example, at Chicago Midway Airport, three lanes are located on the same course at once - 136 ° / 316 °. Accordingly, they have the following designations: runway 13L/31R, runway 13C/31C and runway 13R/31L. However, at the Paris de Gaulle airport, all 4 runways have the same course, and to avoid confusion, they are designated as 8L / 8R / 9L / 9R.

In the air of radio traffic between pilots and controllers, the runway is called, for example, "Runway Zero Two" or "Runway One Three Center".

The dimensions of the runways can be very different, from very small - 300 m long and 10 m wide, to huge - 5.5 km long (Banda) and 80 meters wide. The smallest are used for light and ultralight (ALC) aviation. So for example, for a hang glider (motorized hang glider), 100 m of takeoff run is enough and the same amount for landing. The largest runways are being built at major international airports and aircraft factories.

Runway lighting

The main task of the runway lighting equipment is to ensure the safe landing and take-off of aircraft at night and at dusk, as well as in conditions of limited visibility.

File:Razmesheniye ogney VPP sistemy OVI 2

Layout of lighting signals

Runway lighting (JVI - high intensity lights) is a light strip, most often white - strobes - 500-700 meters long. When landing, the pilot uses strobes to visually control the position of the aircraft relative to the runway heading. The threshold (end) of the band is indicated by an almost continuous line of green lights, located perpendicular to the strobe band. The center line of the runway itself is also marked with white lights. The edges of the runway are yellow. Airfield lighting equipment can be divided into groups of lights arranged in a certain sequence and easily distinguishable when the pilot makes visual contact with the ground.

Groups of signal lights:

1. Constant and pulsed approach lights set along the line of continuation of the axis of the runway. They are intended to indicate to the pilot the direction to the axis of the runway and are used to mark the area between the TUs (see Fig. marker beacon ) and the beginning of the runway. Although pulsed approach lights are recommended in all JVI systems, as practice shows, their use is advisable only during the day in fog, when there is no blinding effect. Proximity lights emit white light.
2. lights of light horizons located perpendicular to the line of continuation of the axis of the runway, creating an artificial horizon. Light horizons provide information to the pilot about the aircraft's lateral roll relative to the runway surface. Light horizon lights emit white light.
3. entrance lights installed at the threshold of the runway. They are designed to indicate the beginning of the runway (its end) and emit green light.
4. Landing sign lights set at a distance of 150-300 m from the runway threshold perpendicular to the runway axis in the form of a small light horizon outside the runway. Landing sign lights emit white light.
5. Restriction lights mark the end of the runway and emit a red light.
6. Touchdown zone lights are used to mark a touchdown area on a runway to facilitate landings in conditions of poor visibility. The lights are installed in two rows parallel to the runway axis at a section of 900 m from the runway threshold. They emit white light.
7. Side lights KPB and the lights of the touchdown zone, located in one row, form a light corridor, by which the pilot easily determines the correctness of the approach to the runway axis.
8. Glide path lights are intended to indicate the visual glide path of planning. The type, number and arrangement of glide path lights are determined by the assignment for the design of the aerodrome. There are several standard layouts for glide slope lights. So, for example, one of the standard schemes for visual indication of the planning glide path includes 12 glide slope lights placed according to the following scheme: two pairs of flank horizons (near and far), three lights in each horizon. The near horizon is located at a distance of 150 m from the runway threshold, the far one - at a distance of 210 m from the near one. Each glide path light emits white light at the top and red at the bottom. The angles of distribution of light beams and the installation of glide path lights must be such that the pilot, when approaching for landing, sees:
   • all glide path lights are red when the aircraft is below the normal glide path and all lights are white when the aircraft is above the normal glide path;
   • near-horizon lights are white, and far-horizon lights are red when the aircraft is on a normal glide path.
9. landing lights are placed on both sides along the runway and designate the lateral longitudinal sides of the runway. With the help of landing lights, 600-meter sections along the ends of the runway are marked. In these areas, the landing lights emit yellow light, in the rest - white.
10. Lights of the end strip of safety (KPB)- axial, central row and side - installed only in the OVI-P, OVI-P1 lighting systems before the start of the runway on a section 300 m long. They are designed to indicate the direction to the runway axis, give information to the pilot about the width of the touchdown zone, the moment the leveling starts. The axial and central lights of the KPB emit white light, and the side lights of the KPB emit red.
11. Axial lights The runways are designed to indicate to the pilot the longitudinal axis of the runway during landing and takeoff of the aircraft. To code runway segments, centerline lights mounted on the last 300 m of the runway for each direction of landing shall emit a red light in the direction of the aircraft moving on the runway. In the section 900-300 m from the end of the runway, the center line lights emit red and white light alternately, and in the rest of the section to the threshold of the runway - white. Centerline lights are used when operating aircraft with high landing speeds, as well as when the runway is more than 50 m wide.
12. Quick exit lights from the runway are located on high-speed exit taxiways and are designed for taxiing at high speed (60 km/h or more) when exiting the runway in order to increase runway capacity. The lights emit green light. Runway exit lights are installed on exit taxiways with a large rounding angle. They are intended for use during runway exits. The lights also emit green light. Runway exit lights and rapid exit lights must be shielded so that they are only visible in the intended direction.
13. Side and axle taxiing lights serve respectively to indicate the longitudinal boundaries and the center line of the taxiways. Side taxiing lights emit blue light, while centerline lights emit green.
14. stop lights designed to prohibit aircraft movement at taxiway intersections, taxiway junctions with the runway, or taxi-holding areas. They complement traffic lights or replace daytime markings with high-intensity lights in poor visibility conditions. Stop lights are unidirectional and emit red light.
15. warning lights are designed to warn the pilot of the nearest intersection of taxiways. The lights are installed in the form of a light horizon perpendicular to the taxiway axis. They emit yellow light.
16. Obstruction lights are intended for light marking of obstacles in the area of ​​the aerodrome, emit red light and must be installed in accordance with the “Manual on the Civil Aviation Aerodrome Service”.
17. Aerodrome light indicators make it easier for the crew to orient themselves at the airfield when taxiing, as well as when the aircraft is moving along the airfield. There are two types of lights - controlled and uncontrolled. Managed include traffic lights and pointers. Traffic lights that prohibit movement should emit red light, allowing - green, and arrows (light indicators of the direction of movement) - yellow light. The color design of uncontrolled light-signal signs is determined by their purpose. On the working field of a rectangular sign, as a rule, there is only one symbol in the form of a letter, number or arrow. The shapes and sizes of symbols comply with ICAO recommendations.

Runway markings

Marking is necessary, first of all, for the most accurate and, therefore, safe landing of the aircraft on the runway. The runway markings are very different from what we are used to seeing on the roads.

From left to right:

• End safety lane, KPB(yellow chevrons). Designed to protect the earth's surface from being blown by powerful jets of jet engine exhaust (so as not to destroy the surface, not to raise dust, etc.), as well as for cases of overrunning the runway. Aircraft are prohibited from being on the PBC, because its surface is not designed for their weight.
• Moved Threshold(or offset end, white arrows) - a runway area where taxiing, takeoff and run of aircraft are allowed, but not landing.
• Threshold(or butt, white stripes in the form of a "zebra") - the beginning of the runway, indicates the beginning of the place where you can land. The threshold is made so in order to be visible from afar. The number of lines depends on the width of the runway.
• Marked number and, if necessary, a letter (L / L - left, R / R - right C / C - central)
• landing zone(double parallel rectangles, starting 300 m from the runway threshold).
• Fixed Distance Marks(large rectangles are located after 150 m). With an ideal landing, the pilot “holds” the landing zone with his eyes, and the touch occurs directly in the landing zone.

A necessary markup attribute is also the center line and sometimes the side lines.

Active (working) band

Active lane (working lane)- this is the runway used for takeoffs and (or) landings of aircraft at a given time.

The main factor in choosing a runway for landing or takeoff is the direction of the wind. It follows from the laws of aerodynamics that an aircraft is not able to land or take off with a tangible tailwind. Ideal conditions (better than absolute calm!) are takeoff / landing against the wind. But the wind doesn't always blow exactly in the opposite direction of the aircraft's motion. Therefore, when performing take-off and landing procedures, a course is selected that is most different from the direction of the wind. Roughly speaking, the closer to the upwind position, the better.

At airports with one or more parallel runways, pilots often have to land aircraft with crosswinds up to 90°. But at large airports, the lanes are often placed at an angle to each other. For example, there are 4 runways at the San Francisco airport - one pair of runways parallel to each other is almost perpendicularly intersected by another pair of parallel runways. At Las Vegas Airport, which also has 4 runways, the angle between 2 pairs of parallel runways is 60°. And at the largest airport in Chicago - O'Hare - 6 runways in three different directions. This lane configuration often makes life easier for pilots and controllers. But even here there are drawbacks - the very fact of crossing lanes already carries a certain danger.

Airports with two or more lanes often use one lane for takeoff and the other for landing. So, in Moscow Sheremetyevo runway 07R / 25L is mainly used only for take-off, and 07L / 25R - for landing. However, due to the proximity of the lanes, it is not allowed to perform these operations simultaneously (one of the conditions for permitting the joint operation of parallel runways is the fulfillment of the requirement: the distance between the lanes must be more than 1.5-2 km).

The longest runways in the world

Notes

see also

Links

• Order of Rosaeronavigatsia dated November 28, 2007 No. 119 “On Approval of the Federal Aviation Rules “Placing Markings and Devices on Buildings, Structures, Communication Lines, Power Lines, Radio Equipment and Other Facilities Installed to Ensure the Safety of Aircraft Flights””
• Manual for the operation of civil aerodromes of the Russian Federation (REGA RF-94.) Part 1.
• Manual for the operation of civil aerodromes of the Russian Federation (REGA RF-94.) Part 2.

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See what "Runway" is in other dictionaries:

See Art. Aerodrome. Encyclopedia "Technology". Moscow: Rosman. 2006. Runway (GRP) part of the airfield, which is included as a working area ... Encyclopedia of technology

runway strip Encyclopedia "Aviation"

runway strip- Flight strip. runway (GWP) part of the airfield, which is part of the runway as a working area (see fig.), the runway is a specially prepared and equipped strip of the earth ... ... Encyclopedia "Aviation"