Runway Numbers and Letters

Airport CEO Support
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Maybe the devs have already thought of this however just to be sure.

The runway numbers are decided by the heading of the runway regarding the north. A runway heading towards north is called 36 and the number on the opposite side is 18. Parallel runways are separated by L, C and R and if there is more than three then 10 degrees are added to two runways.

Why do I bring this up? While all airports’ runways of course do not have same heading in ACEO however since the game will only allow parallel or crossing (90 degrees) runways the numbers will always be:
x=first runway
x+L x+C x+R (Three or two parallel runways)
x+10+L x+10+R x+L x+R (Four parallel runways)
x+90 (Crossing runway)

Fun fact: Since the magnetic poles change the runway numbers on some airports has to be changed. Do not know if that should be a part of the game :smiley:

Hope you understand (I barely do) :sweat_smile: Here is a Wikipedia link if you are interested: Runway - Wikipedia

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You are correct that runway numbers sometimes change, but it doesn’t occur often enough to warrant code to simulate it :slight_smile:

I agree with you that it would be adding realism if the runway numbers correspond with the heading

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I feel the same thing about changing numbers.

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Glad you brought this up. So far we have the correct compass headings for the runways implemented, meaning 36, 09, 18 and 27, as we only support 90 degree placement of the runways. When it comes to parallel runway marking, it is not in the game yet but should not be complicated to do. We just need to calculate the runway with the highest X or Y value and add the correct letter accordingly. Magnetic correction, fun fact but eh… nope :smiley: haha :airplane:

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On a related note, the latest devblog shows “RWY AHEAD” markings at the hold line; any chance the taxiway could reflect the actual runway markings? Real markings also go from “28L” to “10R 28L” to “10R” as you move along the length (only one marking makes sense at the absolute ends), but even “10R 28L” at all intersections would be great.

(In case anyone’s wondering, 28L is the primary landing runway at SFO)

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Please notice that in some cases, rwy number IS different from what you might expect.

One noticeable example is CDG, Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport.

It started with two parallel rwys, very much as in Heathrow (09L/27R,and 09R/27L respectively). Then, to accomodate traffic growth, they added two more parallel runways, making it 4 runways parallel.
Because you can’t use 4 letters - there are only 3, L/R/C - the schema was redesigned. Even though all runways on DeGaulle have exactly the same runway heading (086/266), two of them are 09/27, and other two (southern) are 08/26.

Chart to see for illustration:

LPFG-AD-20-9-taxiout-big.jpg1034×741 399 KB

Cheers,
Adam

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That’s because when you have four runways, having suffixes (L, C, R) isn’t always ideal.

The CDG example isn’t far off what you’d expect - the runways are all parallel between 080-090 (and of course 260-270 in the other direction). Having the two separate numbers differentiates the two pairs of runways quite nicely.

I’m not sure how much of this will end up in the game - particularly since the early releases will only have 90 degree rotation, so all runways will be either 18/36 or 09/27.

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I completely agree.
What I meant to see, is the answer to the question whether we’ll be allowed to have more than three parallel runways in the sim. If so, we might end up having rwys 26/08 as well. Or maybe 28/10, doesn’t matter. If there were more than 3 letters, CDG would have all rwys marked 09/27 like original two.

Cheers,
Adam

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Maybe an easy solution would be to allow us to renumber the runways ourselves? Sure, there will be lots of people who aren’t hugely interested in aviation just numbering them sequentially because that seems logical to them, but if you choose to do that it’s not going to ruin your game experience, and then we can number them the way we want to (and can even factor in magnetic correction if we’re so inclined!).

However, looking at Frederik’s post above, it seems that the devs are working on something more clever than this.

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@gloom, also in Chicago O’hare, the northernmost runway is 27R and the runways parallel south of it are 27L, 28R, 28C, and 28L even though there all one heading, which ironically, I don’t know!
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/ORD_Airport_Diagram.svg

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Kind of a tangent to this question, but I feel that it’s somewhat related and so hopefully ok; will taxiways be named too? Or will players be able to name them?

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@Fredrik :open_mouth: ?

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Well, I guess it could be implemented but this is the first time this feature has been suggested, so we have to evaluate the added gameplay value a taxiway naming system would create. So yea, interesting feature but can’t really say yes or no right now.

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I wonder if it matters because most of the time the taxiway letters are on signs and will therefore not be seen in the game.

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True enough, I suppose they wouldn’t generally be seen in the 2d view. Sorry about that! haha :stuck_out_tongue:

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You say that, but often they are printed next to the line for more clarity to help prevent pilots getting lost.

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I don’t think it is used often. But I’m not sure. Will make some research when I got more time. :confused:
So I have looked at google maps on a few large airports. For taxiway letters it is rarely used however to gate numbers it used a lot.

@gekkoguy82 No worries. Good question :slight_smile:

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