The Annotated Airport
A guide to the meaning of the myriad signs, lines, circles, arrows, numbers, letters, and lights on the airport grounds.
- By Patricia Trenner
- Air & Space magazine, March 2005
AS AN AIRLINER MAKES ITS WAY AROUND an airport from the terminal to takeoff and, after the flight, back to the terminal, it encounters cryptic messages at every turn. To passengers, they may as well be hieroglyphs, but pilots understand them well, having been required to learn a second language: Airportese.
Airport Grounds
A rotating beacon, intended to be seen from the air, that flashes white and green, says, “This is a civil airport.” One green and two white flashes means ”military airport”—no civil aircraft allowed. White and yellow signifies “water airport”—floatplanes and flying boats only. Green, yellow, and white indicates “heliport”—rotary-wing aircraft only.
H Helicopter landing area
The elevation notice tells pilots this airport is, for example, 1,050 feet above mean sea level. The pilots make sure their altimeters agree.
A crew can taxi to the compass rose, align with a spoke, or bearing — 90 degrees, for instance— and check to see if the compass reads 90. (If it doesn’t, the compass needs to be recalibrated.)
The wind sock is a fabric or plastic cone that shows which way the wind is blowing. Aircraft take off and land into the wind. Taking off or landing with a tailwind increases the amount of runway required to lift off or come to a stop.
Lights
Blue lights outline a taxiway. Green lights run down the center.
White and yellow lights outline a runway. White lights run down the center.





Comments (3)
Why are the walkways that come out to the plane called jellies?
Posted by Wally Good on January 5,2011 | 08:45 AM
I believe they're called jetties.
Posted by Pat Trenner on January 7,2011 | 02:44 PM
Hi, can you please give me advice? we have a red beacon light on top of a high structure to warn low flying aircrafts. We installed a wind sock about 3 meters away from the beacon light and it is about 1 meter higher than the beacon light.Is this legal?
EDITORS' REPLY: We are unable to give you legal advice on this matter. Please check with the FAA.
Posted by Dries van Dyk on February 27,2013 | 03:53 AM