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Runway (runway)- a certain rectangular section of a land airfield prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft.

There are runways with artificial (RWPP) and unpaved (GWPP) surfaces.

Designation and dimensions

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

In radio exchanges between pilots and air traffic controllers, the runways are called, for example, “Runway zero two” or “Runway one three center.”

The sizes of runways can be very different, from very small - 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 ultra-light aircraft (USL). So, for example, for a hang-glider (motorized hang glider), a hundred meters of take-off run is enough and the same amount for the landing run. The largest strips are built in large international airports and at aircraft factories.

Coating

The coating for runways (also for taxiways and parking lots) is also used in different ways. There are soil, gravel, asphalt and reinforced concrete strips, and in the latter case, the runways can be either solid cast or laid out from ready-made standard corrugated airfield pavement slabs of the PAG-14, PAG-18, PAG-20 type (differing in load capacity).
A runway with artificial turf is designated by the abbreviation “RWY”.

Unpaved airfields become limp in bad weather, making them impossible to operate. During the Second World War and after, an easy-to-assemble coating made of steel profiled strips fastened to each other and assembled to form 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 runway lighting equipment (LSO) is to ensure the safe landing and takeoff of aircraft in the dark and at twilight, as well as in conditions of limited visibility.

The main types of MTR: low-intensity lights (LOI), used for uncategorized approaches, and high-intensity lights (HIL), used for approaches of categories I, II, III.

JVI is a strip of light, most often white - strobes - 500-700 meters long. When approaching a landing, the pilot uses strobes to visually monitor the aircraft's position relative to the runway heading. The threshold (end) of the strip is indicated by an almost continuous line of green lights located perpendicular to the strip of strobes. The centerline of the strip itself is also indicated by 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.

Signal light groups:

1. Constant and pulsed approach lights installed along the continuation line of the runway axis. They are intended to indicate to the pilot the direction to the runway axis and are used to mark the area between the BPRM (see. Marker beacon ) and the beginning of the runway. Although pulsed approach lights are recommended in all JVI systems, practice shows that their use is only advisable during the day in fog, when there is no glare. The approach lights emit white light.
2. Lights of light horizons are located perpendicular to the continuation line of the runway axis, creating an artificial horizon. Light horizons provide information to the pilot about the lateral roll of the aircraft in relation to the runway surface. The lights of the light horizons emit white light.
3. Entrance lights installed at the runway threshold. They are designed to indicate the beginning of the runway (its end) and emit a green light.
4. Landing sign lights installed 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. The landing sign lights emit white light.
5. Boundary lights indicate the end of the runway and emit a red light.
6. Landing zone lights serve to mark the landing zone on the runway to facilitate landing in poor visibility conditions. The lights are installed in two rows parallel to the runway axis in a section of 900 m from the runway threshold. They emit white light.
7. Side lights KPB and the landing zone lights, located in one row, form a light corridor along which the pilot can easily determine the correct exit to the runway axis.
8. Glide lights are intended to indicate a visual glide path. The type, number and arrangement of glide path lights are determined by the aerodrome design brief. There are several standard layouts for glide path lights. For example, one of the standard schemes for visually indicating the planning glide path includes 12 glide path lights located according to the following scheme: two pairs of flank horizons (near and far) with three lights in each horizon. The near horizon is located at a distance of 150 m from the runway threshold, the far horizon is located at a distance of 210 m from the near one. Each glide path light emits white light at the top and red light at the bottom. The angles of distribution of light beams and the installation of glide path lights must be such that the pilot sees during landing:
   • 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 slope;
   • the lights of the near horizon are white, and the lights of the far horizon are red when the aircraft is on a normal glide path.
9. Landing lights placed on both sides along the runway and mark the lateral longitudinal sides of the runway. Landing lights mark 600-meter sections at the ends of the runway. In these areas, the landing lights emit a yellow light, in the rest - white.
10. Stop lane lights (STL)- axial, central row and side - installed only in the OVI-P, OVI-P1 light-signal 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 landing zone, the moment the leveling begins. The axial and central lights of the PSC emit white light, and the side lights of the PSC emit red light.
11. Axle lights Runways are designed to indicate to the pilot the longitudinal axis of the runway when landing and taking off the aircraft. To code sections of the runway, center line lights mounted on the last 300 m of the runway for each landing direction emit a red light in the direction of the aircraft moving along the runway. In the area 900-300 m from the end of the runway, the center line lights emit red and white light alternately, and in the remaining area to the runway threshold - white. Centerline lights are used when operating aircraft at high landing speeds, as well as when the runway width is more than 50 m.
12. Quick exit lights from the runway are located on high-speed exit taxiways and are intended for taxiing on high speed(60 km/h or more) when leaving the runway in order to increase the runway capacity. The lights emit green light. Runway exit lights are installed on exit taxiways that have a large angle of curvature. They are intended for use when leaving the runway. The lights also emit green light. Runway exit lights and rapid exit lights must be screened so that they are visible only in a given direction.
13. Side and centerline taxi lights serve respectively to indicate the longitudinal boundaries and center line of taxiways. Side taxi lights emit blue light, while centerline lights emit green light.
14. Stop lights are designed to prohibit the movement of aircraft at taxiway intersections, where taxiways adjoin the runway, or at taxi-holding positions. They complement traffic lights or replace daytime marking signs with high-intensity lights in poor visibility conditions. The brake lights are unidirectional and emit a red light.
15. Warning lights are designed to warn the pilot of a nearby taxiway intersection. The lights are installed in the form of a light horizon perpendicular to the taxiway axis. They emit yellow light.
16. Obstruction lights are designed to lightly indicate obstacles in the area of ​​the aerodrome, emit a red light and must be installed in accordance with the “Manual on the Aerodrome Civil Aviation Service”.
17. Airport light signs make it easier for the crew to navigate the airfield when taxiing, as well as when the aircraft is moving around the airfield. There are two types of lights - controllable and uncontrollable. Controlled ones include traffic lights and arrow signs. Traffic lights prohibiting traffic should emit red light, permitting ones should emit green, and arrows (light indicators of the direction of movement) should emit 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 the symbols comply with ICAO recommendations.

Runway markings

Markings are 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 strip, 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 raise dust, etc.), as well as for cases of overrunning the runway. Aircraft are prohibited from being on the landing stage because its surface is not designed to support their weight.
• Moved threshold(or offset end, white arrows) - a runway area where taxiing, takeoff and run of aircraft are permitted, but not landing.
• Threshold(or end, white zebra stripes) - the beginning of the runway, indicates the beginning of the place where you can land. The threshold is designed 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, P/R - right C/S - central)
• Landing zone(double parallel rectangles, starting 300 m from the runway threshold).
• Fixed distance markers(large rectangles, located every 150 m). During an ideal landing, the pilot “holds” the landing zone with his eyes, and the touch occurs directly in the landing zone.

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

Active (working) strip

Active band (working band)- is a 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 wind direction. It follows from the laws of aerodynamics that when there is a headwind, the ground speed of the 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 the safety of the flight. In this regard, preference is given to the strip on which the headwind component is the largest, and the crosswind component is the smallest. In practice, a working 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 of up to 90°. But at large airports, the stripes are often located at an angle to each other. For example, at the San Francisco airport there are four runways - 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 runway configuration often makes life easier for pilots and controllers. But this also has its drawbacks - the very fact of crossing lanes already carries a certain danger.

At airports with two or more runways, it is common practice to use one runway for takeoff and the other for landing. So, in Moscow Sheremetyevo, runway 06R/24L is used mainly only for takeoff, and 06L/24R for landing. However, due to the proximity of the stripes, these operations are not allowed to be carried out simultaneously (one of the conditions for permission to jointly operate parallel runways is that the distance between the stripes 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 limited space, the runway crosses a road where there is a crossing ( 36°09′05″ n. w. /  5°20′55″ W d.36.1512777° s. w. 5.3487217° W d. / 36.1512777; -5.3487217(G) (I)
• ), similar to a railway one. At the airport in Gisborne, New Zealand ( /  38°39′57″ S w.177°58′40″ E. d. / 36.1512777; -5.3487217) and at the Dzemgi experimental airfield ( 50°36′50″ n. w. /  137°04′53″ E. d.50.6139264° N. w. 137.0812708° E. d. / 36.1512777; -5.3487217 / 50.6139264; 137.0812708
• ) (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″ n. w.7°26′57″ W d. / 36.1512777; -5.3487217 57.0252062° s. w. 7.4491382° W d.
•  / 57.0252062; -7.4491382

), located on the Isle of Barra in Scotland (UK). The plane lands directly on the sand during low tide, in places marked with wooden signs. Since the airport is located directly on the beach, before the arrival or departure of the aircraft, a windsock is raised, 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 during high tide because its area 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 an overpass. In addition, a road passes under the runway.

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Meanwhile, the city itself was empty. There was almost no one on the streets. The gates and shops were all locked; here and there near the taverns lonely screams or drunken singing were heard. No one drove along the streets, and pedestrian footsteps were rarely heard. On Povarskaya it was completely quiet and deserted. In the huge courtyard of the Rostovs' house there were scraps of hay and droppings from a transport train, and not a single person was visible. In the Rostov house, which was left with all its good things, two people were in the large living room. These were the janitor Ignat and the Cossack Mishka, Vasilich’s grandson, who remained in Moscow with his grandfather. Mishka opened the clavichord and played it with one finger. The janitor, arms akimbo and smiling joyfully, stood in front of a large mirror.
- That’s clever! A? Uncle Ignat! - the boy said, suddenly starting to clap the keys with both hands.
- Look! - Ignat answered, marveling at how his face smiled more and more in the mirror.
- Shameless! Really, shameless! – the voice of Mavra Kuzminishna, who quietly entered, spoke from behind them. - Eka, thick-horned, he bares his teeth. Take you on this! Everything there is not tidy, Vasilich is knocked off his feet. Give it time!
Ignat, adjusting his belt, stopped smiling and submissively lowered his eyes, walked out of the room.
“Auntie, I’ll go easy,” said the boy.
- I'll give you a light one. Little shooter! – Mavra Kuzminishna shouted, raising her hand at him. - Go and set up a samovar for grandfather.
Mavra Kuzminishna, brushing off the dust, closed the clavichord and, sighing heavily, left the living room and locked the front door.
Coming out into the courtyard, Mavra Kuzminishna thought about where she should go now: should she drink tea in Vasilich’s outbuilding or tidy up what had not yet been tidied up in the pantry?
Quick steps were heard in the quiet street. The steps stopped at the gate; the latch began to knock under the hand that was trying to unlock it.
Mavra Kuzminishna approached the gate.
- Who do you need?
- Count, Count Ilya Andreich Rostov.
- Who are you?
- I'm an officer. “I would like to see,” said the Russian pleasant and lordly voice.
Mavra Kuzminishna unlocked the gate. And a round-faced officer, about eighteen years old, with a face similar to the Rostovs, entered the courtyard.
- We left, father. “We deigned to leave at vespers yesterday,” Mavra Kuzmipishna said 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 I had yesterday... Oh, what a pity!..
Mavra Kuzminishna, meanwhile, carefully and sympathetically examined the familiar features of the Rostov breed in the face of the young man, and the tattered overcoat, and the worn-out boots that he was wearing.
- Why did you need a count? – she asked.
- Yeah... what to do! - the officer said with annoyance and grabbed the gate, as if intending to leave. He stopped again, undecided.
– Do you see? - he suddenly said. “I am a relative of the count, and he has always been very kind to me.” So, you see (he is with good and cheerful smile looked at his cloak and boots), and was worn out, and there was no money; so I wanted to ask the Count...
Mavra Kuzminishna did not let him finish.
- You should wait a minute, father. Just a minute,” she said. And as soon as the officer released his hand from the gate, Mavra Kuzminishna turned and walked towards the backyard to your outbuilding.
While Mavra Kuzminishna was running to her place, the officer, with his head down and looking at his torn boots, smiling slightly, walked around the yard. “What a pity that I didn’t find my uncle. What a nice old lady! Where did she run? And how can I find out which streets are the closest to catch up with the regiment, which should now approach Rogozhskaya? - the young officer thought at this time. Mavra Kuzminishna, with a frightened and at the same time determined face, carrying a folded checkered handkerchief in her hands, came out from around the corner. Without walking a few steps, she unfolded the handkerchief, took out a white twenty-five-ruble note from it and hastily gave it to the officer.
“If their Lordships were at home, it would be known, they would definitely be related, but maybe... now...” Mavra Kuzminishna became shy and confused. But the officer, without refusing and without haste, took the piece of paper and thanked Mavra Kuzminishna. “As if the count were at home,” Mavra Kuzminishna kept saying apologetically. - Christ is with you, father! God bless 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, thoughtfully shaking her head and feeling an unexpected surge of maternal tenderness and pity for the officer unknown to her.

In the unfinished house on Varvarka, below which there was a drinking house, drunken screams and songs were heard. About ten factory workers were sitting on benches near tables in a small dirty room. All of them, drunk, sweaty, with dull eyes, straining and opening their mouths wide, sang some kind of song. They sang separately, with difficulty, with effort, obviously not because they wanted to sing, but only to prove that they were drunk and partying. One of them, a tall, blond fellow in a clear blue scent, stood above them. His face with a thin, straight nose would be beautiful if it were not for his thin, pursed, constantly moving lips and dull, frowning, motionless eyes. He stood over those who were singing, and, apparently imagining something, solemnly and angularly waved his white hand rolled up to the elbow over their heads, the dirty fingers of which he unnaturally tried to spread out. The sleeve of his tunic was constantly falling down, and the fellow diligently rolled it up again with his left hand, as if there was something particularly important in the fact that this white, sinewy, waving arm was certainly bare. In the middle of the song, screams of fighting and blows were heard in the hallway and on the porch. The tall fellow waved his hand.
- Sabbath! – he shouted imperiously. - 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 under the leadership of a tall fellow, brought skins from the factory to the kisser, and for this they were given wine. The blacksmiths from the neighboring cousins, hearing the noise in the tavern and believing that the tavern was broken, wanted to force their way into it. A fight broke out on the porch.
The kisser was fighting with the blacksmith at the door, and while the factory workers were coming out, the blacksmith broke away from the kisser and fell face down on the pavement.
Another blacksmith was rushing through the door, leaning on the kisser with his chest.
The fellow with his sleeve rolled up hit the blacksmith in the face as he rushed through the door and shouted wildly:
- Guys! They're beating our people!
At this time, the first blacksmith rose from the ground and, scratching the blood on his broken face, shouted in a crying voice:
- Guard! Killed!.. Killed a man! Brothers!..
- Oh, fathers, they killed him to death, they killed a man! - the woman squealed as she came out of the neighboring gate. A crowd of people gathered around the bloody blacksmith.
“It’s not enough that you robbed people, took off their shirts,” said someone’s voice, turning to the kisser, “why did you kill a person?” Robber!
The tall fellow, standing on the porch, looked with dull eyes first at the kisser, then at the blacksmiths, as if wondering who he should fight with now.
- Murderer! – he suddenly shouted at the kisser. - Knit it, guys!
- Why, I tied up one such and such! - the kisser shouted, waving off the people who attacked him, and, tearing off his hat, he threw it on the ground. As if this action had some mysteriously threatening significance, the factory workers who surrounded the kisser stopped in indecision.
“Brother, I know the order very well.” I'll get to the private part. Do you think I won't make it? Nowadays no one is ordered to commit robbery! – the kisser shouted, raising his hat.
- And let's go, look! And let's go... look! - the kisser and the tall fellow repeated one after another, and both moved forward along the street together. The bloody blacksmith walked next to them. Factory workers and strangers followed them, talking and shouting.
At the corner of Maroseyka, opposite a large house with locked shutters, on which there was a sign of a shoemaker, stood with sad faces about twenty shoemakers, thin, exhausted people in dressing gowns and tattered tunics.
- He will treat the people properly! - said a thin craftsman with a scraggly beard and frowning eyebrows. - Well, he sucked our blood - and that’s it. He drove us and drove us - all week. And now he brought it to the last end, and left.
Seeing the people and the bloody man, the worker who had been speaking fell silent, and all the shoemakers, with hasty curiosity, joined the moving crowd.
-Where are the people going?
“We know where, he’s going to the authorities.”
- Well, did our power really not take over?
- And you thought how! Look what the people are saying.
Questions and answers were heard. The kisser, taking advantage of the increase in the crowd, fell behind the people and returned to his tavern.
The tall fellow, not noticing the disappearance of his enemy the kisser, waving his bare arm, did not stop talking, thereby drawing everyone’s attention to himself. The people mostly pressed on him, expecting from him to get a solution to all the questions that occupied them.
- Show him order, show him the law, that’s what the authorities are in charge of! Is that what I say, Orthodox? - said the tall fellow, smiling slightly.
– He thinks, and there are no authorities? Is it possible without bosses? Otherwise, you never know how to rob them.
- What nonsense to say! - responded in the crowd. - Well, then they’ll abandon Moscow! They told you to laugh, but you believed it. You never know how many of our troops are coming. So they let him in! That's what the authorities do. “Listen to what the people are saying,” they said, pointing to the tall fellow.
Near the wall of China City, another small group of people surrounded a man in a frieze overcoat holding a paper in his hands.
- The decree, the decree is being read! The decree is being read! - was heard in the crowd, and 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 embarrassed, but in response to the demand of the tall fellow who had pushed ahead of him, with a slight trembling in his voice, he began to read the poster from the beginning.
“Tomorrow early I’m going to see the most illustrious prince,” he read (the brightening one! - the tall fellow solemnly repeated, smiling with his mouth and frowning his eyebrows), “to talk with him, act and help the troops exterminate the villains; We too will become the spirit of them...” the reader continued and stopped (“Saw?” the little one shouted victoriously. “He will untie you all the distance...”) ... - to eradicate and send these guests to hell; I’ll come back for lunch, and we’ll get down to business, we’ll do it, we’ll finish it, and we’ll get rid of the villains.”
The last words were read by the reader in complete silence. The tall fellow sadly lowered his head. It was obvious that no one understood these last words. In particular, the words: “I will come tomorrow for lunch,” apparently even upset both the reader and the listeners. The understanding of the people was in a high mood, and this was too simple and unnecessary understandable; this was the very thing that each of them could say and that therefore a decree emanating from a higher power could not speak.
Everyone stood in dejected silence. The tall fellow moved his lips and staggered.
“I should ask him!.. That’s what he is?.. Well, he asked!.. But then... He’ll point out...” was suddenly heard in the back rows of the crowd, and everyone’s attention turned to the droshky of the police chief, accompanied by two mounted dragoons.
The police chief, who had gone that morning by order of the count to burn the barges and, on the occasion of this order, had rescued a large sum of money that was in his pocket at that moment, seeing a crowd of people moving towards him, ordered the coachman to stop.
- What kind of people? - he shouted at the people, scattered and timidly approaching the droshky. - What kind of people? I'm asking you? - repeated the police chief, who did not receive an answer.
“They, your honor,” said the clerk in the frieze overcoat, “they, your highness, at the announcement of the most illustrious count, without sparing their lives, wanted to serve, and not like some kind of riot, as said from the most illustrious count...
“The Count has not left, he is here, and there will be orders about you,” said the police chief. - Let's go! - he said to the coachman. The crowd stopped, crowding around those who had heard what the authorities said, and looking at the droshky driving away.
At that time, the police chief looked around in fear and said something to the coachman, and his horses went faster.
- Cheating, guys! Lead to it yourself! - shouted the voice of a tall guy. - Don't let me go, guys! Let him submit the report! Hold it! - voices shouted, and people ran after the droshky.
The crowd behind the police chief, talking noisily, headed to the Lubyanka.
- Well, the gentlemen and the merchants have left, and that’s why we are lost? Well, we are dogs, or what! – was heard more often in the crowd.

On the evening of September 1, after his meeting with Kutuzov, Count Rastopchin, upset and offended by the fact 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 up to him in the camp , in which the question of the calm 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 dinner, the count, without undressing, lay down on the sofa 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 outside Moscow, would the count like 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 Hill, but also from the Battle of Borodino itself, when all the generals who came to Moscow unanimously said that another battle could not be fought, and when, with the count’s permission, every night government property and residents were already removing up to half let's leave - Count Rastopchin knew that Moscow would be abandoned; but nevertheless, this news, communicated in the form of a simple note with an order from Kutuzov and received at night, during his first sleep, surprised and irritated the count.
Subsequently, explaining his activities during this time, Count Rastopchin wrote several times in his notes that he then had two important goals: De maintenir la tranquillite a Moscow et d "en faire partir les habitants. [Keep calm in Moscow and escort out her inhabitants.] If we assume this double goal, every action of Rostopchin turns out to be impeccable. Why were the Moscow shrine, weapons, ammunition, gunpowder, grain supplies not taken away, why were thousands of residents deceived by the fact that Moscow would not be surrendered, and ruined? In order to maintain peace in the capital, Count Rostopchin’s explanation answers. Why were piles of unnecessary papers and Leppich’s ball and other items removed from public places? - In order to leave the city empty, Count Rostopchin’s explanation answers. One has only to assume that something was threatening. national tranquility, and every action becomes justified.
All the horrors of terror were based only on concern for public peace.
What was Count Rastopchin’s fear of public peace in Moscow based on in 1812? What reason was there for supposing there was a tendency towards indignation in the city? Residents left, troops, retreating, filled Moscow. Why should the people rebel as a result of this?
Not only in Moscow, but throughout Russia, upon the entry of the enemy, nothing resembling indignation occurred. On September 1st and 2nd, 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 himself, there was nothing. Obviously, it was even less necessary to expect unrest among the people if after the Battle of Borodino, when the abandonment of Moscow became obvious, or, according to at least, probably, if then, instead of worrying the people with the distribution of weapons and posters, Rostopchin had taken measures to remove all sacred objects, gunpowder, charges and money and had directly announced to the people that the city was being abandoned.
Rastopchin, an ardent, sanguine man who always moved in the highest circles of the administration, although with a patriotic feeling, did not have the slightest idea about the people he thought of governing. From the very beginning of the enemy’s entry into Smolensk, Rostopchin envisioned for himself the role of 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 controlled their mood through his proclamations and posters, written in that ironic language that the people in their midst despise and which they do not understands when he hears it from above. Rostopchin 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 from under his feet the ground on which he stood, he absolutely did not know what should he do? Although he knew, he did not believe with all his soul in leaving Moscow until the last minute and did nothing for this purpose. Residents moved out against his wishes. If public places were removed, it was only at the request of officials, with whom the count reluctantly agreed. He himself was occupied only with the role that he made for himself. As often happens with people gifted with an ardent imagination, he knew for a long time that Moscow would be abandoned, but he knew only by reasoning, but with all his soul he did not believe in it, and was not transported by his imagination to this new situation.

Manufacturers of corporate aircraft pay close attention to takeoff and landing performance, as potential owners are not least interested in whether they can use small airfields closest to their home or destination. For example, of the more than 5,000 public airfields in the United States, only 760 have runways that are at least 1,800 m long. Another 2,300 airfields have runways that are at least 1,200 m long. Obviously, the less runway an airplane needs to take off or land , the wider its geographical capabilities and the more attractive it looks in the eyes of the buyer.

With so much at stake, test pilots hone their flying technique until they can consistently achieve incredibly short flight times when they take the next new model into the air. This data is then published in the Flight Manual. What are the secrets of fine tuning?
“When verifying the takeoff and landing characteristics of an aircraft, we perform an approach at Vref speed to an altitude of 50 feet above the runway. There is essentially no leveling off. When touching down, we immediately release the spoilers and brake as hard as possible,” explains Pete Reynolds, former manager Learjet test programs, having flown hundreds of hours testing various Bombardier business jet models, including the Global Express. He now heads PTR Aero, a flight testing consultancy.

Reynolds notes that landing speeds are calculated depending on the stall speed for a given wing and landing gear configuration. For older aircraft, stall speed is determined by the angle of attack at which the minimum possible speed (at which the aircraft remains under control) is achieved. For example, Vref according to this formula is calculated as 1.3 stall speed. For newer aircraft, stall speed is determined by the maximum angle of attack at which the aircraft can continue to fly at 1g. This speed is generally higher than the minimum airspeed, but Vref ends up being 1.23 stall speeds. In fact, as a result, the approach speed for both is approximately the same.

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The main characteristics of the runway (runway) are:

Suitability for use, i.e. technical ability to service a certain category of aircraft;

-course, i.e. strip axis course according to magnetic or navigation course;

-exceeding the threshold, i.e. the height of the threshold of the strip relative to sea level, as well as the elevation of the earth's surface;

Active band (working band)- is a runway used for takeoffs and (or) landings of aircraft at a given time. The speed at which the required lift is produced is the speed of the aircraft relative to the air mass. In a headwind, takeoff speed is the sum of the aircraft's speed relative to the ground and the wind speed. Therefore, it is advantageous to take a takeoff run against the wind, since in this case the air speed relative to the aircraft will be greater than the speed of the aircraft relative to the ground. And the separation will happen earlier. When taking off against the wind, the aircraft is better controlled than when there is no wind, since already at the very beginning of the takeoff it is blown by a counter air flow. In this case, the condition for creating lift is the result of the interaction of the characteristics of the wing, determined by its cross-section, and the speed of the aircraft with the characteristics of the oncoming air flow. Thus, take-off parameters can be adjusted by changing the wing geometry using flaps depending on take-off conditions, such as taking off in a calm environment or from a short runway.

When taking off into the wind, the take-off run length increases due to the fact that the airspeed of the aircraft in this case is equal to the difference between the ground speed and the wind speed. At the beginning of the takeoff, the plane does not listen well to the rudders, since the oncoming flow begins only some time after the start of the takeoff (when the speed of the aircraft on the ground becomes equal to or greater than the wind speed). In addition, a tailwind weakens the effect of the propeller jet blowing across the rudders until the aircraft's speed increases sufficiently. This circumstance, and mainly the increase in the take-off run, makes take-off downwind unsuitable and sometimes even dangerous. Therefore, takeoff must be carried out against the wind, especially if the wind is strong. When landing with a tailwind, the landing distance lengthens, the lift force decreases and the risk of the aircraft stalling increases, which requires an increase in landing speed.

Meteorological wind direction is the angle between the north direction of the true/magnetic meridian and the direction from which the wind is blowing.
Navigational wind direction- this is the angle between the direction taken as the origin and the direction in which the wind is blowing.
Depending on the meteorological direction of the wind, the pilot determines the course with the most favorable conditions for takeoff or landing.

Consequently, when performing takeoff and landing procedures, a course is selected - closer to the “against the wind” position.

With the correct choice of takeoff and landing course "against the wind", the values ​​of the meteorological wind course turn out to be opposite to the navigation flight course. For ease of remembering, you can follow the old shipping rule “wind into the compass - current out of the compass”. Thus, having the same value, it is assumed that an airplane flying on a heading of, say, 100 degrees has a headwind heading at 100 degrees. Which is equivalent to saying that the plane has a heading "towards" and the wind has a heading "from".

The features of taking into account wind direction and speed can be found in the sections “Weather conditions and their analysis” and “Wind”.

LET'S LOOK AT THE EXAMPLE OF USING A RUNWAY AT THE SEVERKA AIRDROME:

If at the time of departure the airfield is not served by a dispatcher or flight director, then familiarization with weather information is an independent task of the PIC. The most popular is information transmitted in the METAR code. They can be obtained from the following sources:

A) available resources on the Internet;

b) function of the FSInn program;

Since the Severka airfield does not have its own weather station, the values ​​of the nearest weather station located at the Domodedovo airfield (ICAO code - UUDD) are taken into account. As an example, let's take the code discussed in the tutorial:

UUDD 201030Z 26004MPS 050V110 7000 -SN BKN014 OVC100 M04/M06 Q0997 64550193 14550193 TEMPO 1000 SHSN SCT010CB,

which states that the wind is 26004MPS, i.e. the wind heading 260 blows at a speed of 4 meters per second. This airfield has two runways, one of which is paved. Almost always aircraft maintenance occurs using this particular band. Runway headings are 230 and 050. This means that when taking off using this runway in one direction, the aircraft flies at heading 230 before the first turn, and in the opposite direction at heading 050. The landing course is determined in the same way - according to the vector direction of the aircraft.

Thus, when carrying out the takeoff and landing procedure “against the wind”, the following active (working) stripes are determined:

For simplicity and clarity, a wind indicator (wind cone, weather vane), sometimes called a “sock” due to its external similarity, is installed at the airfield, which helps to compare the calculated wind course with the actual one at the airfield. It is easy to remember that the takeoff and landing course is in the opposite direction of the “sock” inflated by the wind, or, more simply, the departure “from the sock”.

The PIC, taxiing from the taxiway onto the runway, is guided by auxiliary signs that help him orient himself regarding the course in accordance with which the runway is operating. As a rule, operating lane indicators are installed immediately before the intersection of the pre-launch markings, from which clearance is requested and at which the controller transmits control information on take-off conditions. The signs are marked with numbers indicating the direction to the executive start, i.e. the place from which the aircraft begins to take off.

In cases where ATC services are provided at the aerodrome, the active (working) runway is reported upon the launch request. In this case, the dialogue between the captain and the dispatcher takes the following form:

Part of the material was provided by Yurikon.1968
Published by Lys (discussion) 13:46, March 28, 2014 (MSK)

Runway strip(abbr. runway) - part of the airfield, included as a working area in the airstrip. The runway is a specially prepared and equipped strip of the earth's surface with artificial pavement ( runway, artificial runway) or unpaved surface ( GVPP, unpaved runway) designed to support the takeoff and landing of aircraft.

Designation and dimensions

Runways are numbered according to the magnetic course on which they are located. The course value is rounded to tens and divided by 10. For example, at Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport, the runway has a magnetic course of 72°. Accordingly, its designation is Runway 07. It should be noted that any strip is “directed” simultaneously in two directions, the difference between which is 180°. Therefore, the opposite course is 252°. Thus, the strip in Tolmachevo will have the designation Runway 07/25.

At larger airports, 2 or more runways are built. Often they are located in parallel - that is, on the same course. In such cases, a letter is added to the numerical designation - L (left), C (central) and R (right). For example, at Chicago Midway Airport, three runways are located on the same course - 133°/313°. Accordingly, they have the following designations: Runway 13L/31R, Runway 13C/31C and Runway 13R/31L. However, at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, all 4 runways have the same heading, and are designated 8L/8R/9L/9R to avoid confusion.

In radio exchanges between pilots and air traffic controllers, the runways are called, for example, “Runway zero two” or “Runway one three center.”

The sizes of runways can be very different, from very small - 300 m long and 10 m wide, to huge ones - 5 km long and 80 meters wide. The smallest ones are used for small, sports aviation. The largest runways are built at large international airports and aircraft factories.

The coating used for stripes is also different. There are dirt, gravel, asphalt and concrete strips.

Runway lighting

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

Write a review about the article "Runway"

The idea to write this review came to me after repeatedly contemplating the airfields of airports around the world while traveling, taking photographs and simply observing numerous take-offs and landings of various aircraft.

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

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

Documentation on airport takeoff and landing equipment begins with a fairly detailed and very entertaining description of the problems experienced by flight crews when carrying out the entire range of operations associated with takeoffs, landings, taxiing and other air-ground operations. I was always aware of the complexity of flying aircraft, but the true depth of this intense work was beyond me. Now, I hope my understanding has expanded somewhat, and I invite you to take an excursion into the world of airport lights and symbols in order to gain 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 gain the ability to crawl, we use visual cues and an innate sense of balance to move along the surface of the earth. This long and gradual cognitive process continues after we begin to use various types of mechanical transport on land or water, and by this time we have accumulated many years of experience to guide us. As soon as we take off in the air, we are faced with a third-dimensional problem, which means that all our life experience in solving two-dimensional problems is no longer enough.”

“If we take an aircraft with a long fuselage as an example, its pilot, when taxiing, has to control one of the largest, heaviest and least efficiently moved tricycles that have ever been created. 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. The steerable nose gear is located several meters behind his seat in the cockpit (which creates additional problems when driving along a curve), and the wheels of the main struts are no less than 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 ineffective at low translational speeds. Because many modern jet aircraft (regardless of size) have swept wings, the pilot often cannot see the wingtips from the cockpit.”

Impressive, at least to me.

Armed with inspired remarks from ICAO, I’ll move on to the main part of my story

I’ll start with runways and taxiways, namely with what is painted on them and what useful information you can learn from this.

In films, and in everyday life, many of us have seen a red and white stocking fluttering in the wind or drooping lifelessly in complete calm on a small support located not far from the airfield runway.

Aerodrome windsock.

Aviators call this simple 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 an approximate idea of ​​its speed, but the practical use of even such a simple thing requires compliance with several rules.

Firstly, the windsock is placed in such a way that it is clearly visible both from the flying aircraft and from the airfield itself. The trick to its location is that it should not be affected by all sorts of air flows from nearby objects and structures. In short, to prevent the windsock from always pointing in 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 landscape of the airfield, in fact it is not small at all. Its length reaches more than three meters, and its 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 visible from a height of at least 300 meters. One color is preferred, preferably white or orange, but if increased contrast is needed, two colors are used, preferring a combination of orange and white, red and white, or black and white, and the colors are arranged in the form of five alternating stripes so that the first and last are darker color.

Thirdly, the location 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 must also contrast with the windsock itself. At night, the “sorcerer” is provided with personal lighting.

Having seen enough of the play of the wind, let us now turn directly to the runways and taxiways. There is a lot of interesting and educational stuff in this area.

Let's start with the fact that the lanes and paths are marked. Markings are different numbers, signs, stripes, edgings. Nothing fancy, but for a careful observer, and even more so for pilots, the markings contain a lot of very valuable information.

On runways, the markings are white, and if the runways themselves have fairly light surfaces, for example, faded from the bright southern sun, then they are also outlined 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 runway, and for night flights, special reflective materials are included in the paint.

Now let's see what kind of information can be obtained by looking at the runway markings.

Each strip with artificial turf has a personal designation, which is a two-digit number, and if the airport is equipped with several parallel strips, then a letter is added to the number. The number itself is the magnetic landing course of the aircraft, rounded to the nearest ten. If after rounding the result is a number less than ten, for example, 8, then a zero is written in front of it and the number becomes two-digit, in our case 08.

Roughly speaking, if the landing course is 120 degrees, then the runway on one side will be designated 12, and on the other, 30, respectively, 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 does the strip have two names on both sides? But because planes can land and take off in both directions depending on the wind direction in the area of ​​the airport.

As for the letters included in the runway markings, they are used when there are several parallel stripes in the air harbor. The letters are standard - L(eft), C(enter), R(ight) and in case of multiband are used 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 stripes if there are more than three of them and all of these stripes are parallel. This order, for example, can be seen at the Dallas airport (USA). In this case, the magnetic azimuth of one part of the stripes is rounded to the nearest smaller value, and the other part to the nearest larger value.

Dallas airport runways.

Information about landing on a particular runway is also present on the radio during the exchange of landing data between the aircraft crew and the dispatch service, which allows, for example, to orientate yourself if necessary, to take a colorful photo of a landing or taking off aircraft.

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

We seem to have sorted out the numbers and letters, and now let’s move on to dashes, stripes and rectangles, which, despite their inconspicuousness, can also convey something interesting.

For example, runway threshold markings. What exactly is this? 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 stripes will indicate the width of the runway. The general dependence of the number of zebra stripes on the runway width 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, looking at the threshold of the runway, instantly gets an idea of ​​​​its width and suitability for landing for a 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 large crosswinds, various excursions of the aircraft relative to the center line of the runway caused by errors or associated physical conditions, for example, uneven runways or weather conditions.

There are some peculiarities when drawing these signs, but in general the given values ​​are standard and are used at all airfields with artificial turf (asphalt, concrete, asphalt-concrete).

An attentive observer will certainly notice that the number of runway threshold stripes is sometimes slightly different from those shown in the table. So, say, the zebra runway 14R/32L of Domodedovo Airport contains 16 stripes, which actually corresponds to its current width of 60 meters, and Runway 06/24 of Vnukovo Airport uses markings consisting of 14 stripes, 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 stripes corresponds to the true width of the runway, enclosed between the outer markers of its edges, which makes it possible to quite accurately understand within what exact limits a change in the position of a landing aircraft is permissible.

Runways Domodedovo, Vnukovo with end markers.

The next interesting element in the design of the runway is the landing point marker. Anyone who looked at photographs of airports on Yandex or Google certainly noted black marks from aircraft tires, neatly concentrated in approximately the same places near the beginning of each runway. What helps pilots achieve such remarkable precision in controlling an airplane when landing? But this very marker helps. It works like this.

The target landing point marker itself is a pair of clearly visible stripes applied parallel to the runway, the size of which and the interval between them are determined by several factors.

Firstly, the distance between the aiming point and the end of the strip depends on the length of the runway. The longer the runway, the farther from its beginning the aiming marker is located. 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 over 2400 meters long 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 truly noticeable and suitable for full orientation when landing.

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

Aiming point and landing zone markings.

The runway edge markings, which indicate the outer edges of the runway, complete the parade of runway graphics.

Now, let’s allow ourselves to leave the runway area and head towards the most interesting intricacy of taxiways, aprons and other places where vibrant aviation life takes place. These silent participants in air traffic deserve special attention despite their auxiliary purpose. Taxiways, aprons and airport sites are 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 binding of straight runway booms, and all the hidden life of the airport is in full swing on these working surfaces. Runways skim off the cream in the form of luxurious takeoffs and soft landings, while taxiways and aprons routinely receiving, sending cargo and passengers rarely end up in beautiful advertising brochures.

We have a short introductory walk through this part of the airfield, 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 general requirements, which are presented to taxiways.

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

These simple and understandable theses lead to certain methods of taxiway design, which are to ensure an unimpeded, continuous flow of aircraft ground movement with maximum speed and minimal acceleration and deceleration. Efficiency thus also contributes to safety.

In other words, taxiways should move as many aircraft on and off the runway as possible without causing significant delays. This means that it is important for a landing ship to leave the landing strip as soon as possible, and for a ship taking off, it is necessary to occupy the runway immediately before the takeoff run.

It seems like nothing complicated, but if you take into account the size of modern airports, the number of takeoff and landing operations, the volume of cargo transported and the intensity of passenger flows, you can imagine how complex an engineering task it is to create this very transport “connection”.

In order to build such a powerful system, it must be carefully planned. Let's see how experienced designers do this. First of all, they take on the task of drawing up a route map of the taxiways. The map is created in such a way as to connect the various elements of the airfield along the shortest distances, thus reducing taxi time and costs. Taxiing should not only 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 paths and large turning radii in order to maximize the speed of aircraft when taxiing and thereby increase the efficiency of airfield use.

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

You can also note the provision of security, the relevance of which has recently increased sharply. Taxiway routes are constructed so that they do not pass through areas where people have free access to aircraft. In addition, during the design, the possibility of committing sabotage or armed aggression is specifically 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 taxi system must be visually accessible from the airport control tower. If some areas are shaded by buildings or structures, they are equipped with video surveillance systems, including night vision devices.

If you look at the diagram of a particular airport, you will notice that the taxiways are not just adjacent to the beginning of the runways, but seem to frame these main airport routes.

Runway with adjacent exit taxiways.

These adjacent tracks are called input and output RDs. Their purpose is to send the aircraft for takeoff and quickly remove the landed aircraft from the runway. There should be enough ingress and egress taxiways to meet the requirements for handling aircraft taking off and landing during peak hours.

Yes, yes, there are rush hours at airports too, and they can be planned, determined by the flight schedule, or they can also be emergency, for example, when planes en masse leave for alternate airfields during bad weather or for other important reasons.

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

And here there is one interesting nuance. The exit taxiway can be located either at a right angle or at an acute angle to the runway. It would seem that what a difference it makes. And the difference is quite significant. The first type of track implies that, before leaving the runway, the aircraft reduced speed to the minimum possible and slowly made a 90-degree turn, heading towards the terminal or parking lot. Smooth, relatively safe, but long...

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

We can also add that the construction of expressways is more expensive than direct ones, and designers usually balance between cost and efficiency, which is generally a common thing.

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

You can write long and richly about taxiways, but I won’t do this because I was going to be relatively brief, however, I will especially dwell on one more type of taxiways since they often attract the attention of photographers, directors, and even seem very curious to ordinary passengers. These are taxiways located on bridges.

The layout of the airfield, its geographical location, size or length of infrastructure sometimes requires the laying of taxiways over bridges located above automobile, railways, water spaces or sea communications. The construction of such taxiways has its own tricks. For example, every motorist knows that bridges and overpasses are fraught with a whole range of dangers during heavy rain, periods of snow and ice, poor visibility or gusty winds. At airfields, everything happens exactly the same, only the problems are aggravated by the enormous weight of aircraft, the need to provide access to large equipment in case of emergency, as well as the influence of powerful jet streams from aircraft engines on vehicles moving under these bridges. Nobody wants to receive a gigantic blow from 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, which will allow, in the event of an accident, to keep the plane on the bridge and prevent it from collapsing on the heads of astonished drivers. The impact of the jet stream is neutralized by special barrier structures made of perforated material, which reduce the impact to an acceptable level. After passing 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 calm, of course, but not a hurricane either.

The taxiway passes over the bridge.

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

Why were waiting areas and so-called workarounds invented?

The fact is that departure permissions are usually given in the order of aircraft readiness for takeoff. At small airfields with low flight density, which is approximately 50-70 takeoffs and landings per day, there is usually no need to make changes to the flight sequence. However, at large airports with high traffic frequencies such a need arises. These airports have fairly large aprons and it is sometimes difficult to ensure that aircraft taxi from the apron so that they approach the end of the runway in the sequence required by air traffic control services. Holding bays and bypasses provide flexibility in managing the sequence of departures and, accordingly, increase the aerodrome's capacity. At the same time, both the commercial task of generating 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 of a plane's departure due to unforeseen circumstances. Using the platform makes it possible not to delay aircraft following behind.

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 taxiways that allow aircraft to move in parallel, and twin entrances are a bifurcation of the taxiway when entering the runway. As an example of a paired entrance, we can cite the infrastructure of lane 32L of Domodedovo Airport.

Twin entrance to runway 32L of Domodedovo airport.

As for the color graphics of taxiways, their markings are applied yellow as opposed to white for runways.

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

To clarify, I will say that an apron is a designated area designed to accommodate aircraft for boarding and disembarking passengers, loading and unloading mail or cargo, refueling, parking or maintenance. Aircraft parking areas are also located on the aprons.

This general definition. In fact, there are several types of platforms.

The first and most important view is the passenger terminal apron. In the area of ​​this apron, boarding is carried out, aircraft are refueled and maintained, cargo and passenger luggage are loaded and unloaded. Aircraft parking is organized on these same aprons.

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

Cargo aircraft parked.

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

General aviation aprons are identified as a separate type. They are designed to serve business and personal aviation and do not overlap with common areas.

In addition to those listed, there are service aprons, pre-garden aprons, transit aprons, and mooring aprons. Their purpose follows from their names. We can only add that the presence of such aprons significantly increases the airport’s capabilities in terms of volume and quality of aircraft service.

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 different airports around 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 is really simple and is used at low traffic volume airports. Aircraft in this scheme are located in parking lots with their bow part towards the airport terminal or with their bow part away from it and taxi using their own thrust.

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

Simple airport concept.

Concept N2. Linear.

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

It differs mainly in that the planes are located at an angle to the front line of the airport terminal, which allows arriving planes to taxi to the parking lot faster. Problems that arise with pushing aircraft out for takeoff are mitigated by the use of special tractors with experienced personnel.

Airport linear concept.

Concept N3. Landing galleries.

Quite common architecture nowadays, sometimes called peninsular. Its essence is that one or more galleries extend from the terminal building, in which there are exits leading to docked aircraft. Airplanes can be positioned either at an angle to the gallery or perpendicularly, with the bow to the terminal. Sometimes there is parallel parking of aircraft to the galleries. The most important thing for designers is to provide sufficient space between the galleries for safe maneuvering of aircraft and to group the galleries according to the size of the aircraft accepted by the airport.

Landing gallery concept.

Concept N4. Ostrovnaya.

As the name suggests, in this case it is implied that there is a structure separate from the airport terminal, surrounded by aircraft parking areas at the boarding gates. Typically, passenger access from the airport terminal to the island structure is provided through underground or overground passages, but sometimes access is provided over the surface.

The shapes of the island vary. These can be round, oval, square or rectangular buildings. Aircraft dock parallel or radially.

Island concept.

Concept N5. Open platform.

The essence of the concept is that aircraft are located at remote sites while passengers, luggage and cargo are delivered to parking areas by road transport. For transportation, special gallery buses and cargo trolleys are used. Despite some inconveniences for passengers, this scheme also has its advantages, such as the proximity of the aprons to the runway, shortened pre-launch taxiing cycles, flexibility in operation and ease of expanding areas.

Open apron concept.

Having examined the aprons, we will return to the airport task and pay attention to the features of boarding passengers directly onto the plane. As you know, the crew and travelers get on board using gangways, a kind of bridge between the deck and the ground.

Passengers love telescopic gangways most of all, and it’s clear why. In winter, when flying to hot countries, you can walk directly from the building to the plane in shorts, and when arriving, get back to the airport without paying attention to the vagaries of the weather in the form of rain, snow and other meteorological surprises. In aviation terms, this is called “direct boarding,” which means people board without the use of steps or wasting energy.

Telescopic ladders come in two types - stationary and mobile. The fixed stairway protrudes from the terminal building and can only be moved slightly towards the aircraft with a small adjustment in height between the aircraft deck and the terminal floor. A movable telescopic ladder is more complex. One end of this ladder is hinged to the terminal building, and the other end is on a two-wheeled trolley with a motor. The ramp rotates towards the aircraft and extends until it touches the aircraft door. The end that interfaces with the aircraft can be raised or lowered significantly, making it possible to serve aircraft with different deck heights using this passenger stairway.

Teletrap.

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

Open gangway and canopy gangway.

It must be said that there are also special types of mobile ladders, which are special vehicles, the cabin of which is hydraulically raised level with the aircraft deck. This technique is called autolifts and is used for all kinds of catering operations on board an aircraft, as well as for unloading sick passengers.

Autolift.

Finally, I would like to note the possibility of using the stairways of the aircraft themselves, if the aircraft is equipped with them. In this case, the crew independently lowers the ramp, and passengers leave the plane along it.

Airplane interior staircase.

As we have already seen, the airport airfield 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 coordinated movement of aircraft and road transport, it is necessary to equip this infrastructure road signs, allowing pilots and drivers to freely navigate the expanses of the airfield.

Indeed, such signs exist and serve to convey constant or variable graphic information to traffic participants. The signs are placed as close to the surface as possible to avoid getting caught by propellers or jet engine nacelles. Another requirement is that aerodrome signs must be frangible and, even if they are touched, they will not interfere with the movement of the aircraft.

There are two types of signs - mandatory and indicative. Mandatory signs are made in red with white lettering. Each mandatory sign implies that further movement of an aircraft or vehicle is prohibited unless permission has been received from the airfield control tower.

Mandatory signs include runway designation signs, category I, II or III holding position signs, runway holding position signs and along the route, as well as a “No Entry” sign.

Mandatory airport signs.

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

Airfield directional signs.

And now a little digression about how you can confuse taxiways and runways even if you have signs, markings and flight experience.

It was in the glorious city of Oslo...

Oslo Airport.

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

The takeoff was planned from runway 01L and the commander decided to carry it out not from the beginning of the runway, but somewhat closer - from taxiway A3, perpendicularly adjacent 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 taxi 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.

ABOUT the decision taken the crew informed the dispatcher and, having received permission to take off from taxiway A3, the plane moved towards the executive launch.

As I already 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 specified taxiing direction despite the low speed of about 20 knots.

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

At this moment, the crew of the aircraft, having made the mistaken decision that they had already reached the runway, taxied onto taxiway M running along Runway 01L and began a takeoff run, which ended with a successful lift-off from the surface at a speed of 143 knots. The crew learned that the takeoff was made from the taxiway 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 observer pilot 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 proceed for takeoff. It is interesting that the aircraft crew did not pay attention to the banners indicating the taxiway and runway, as well as the yellow color of the taxiway center line.

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 abort the takeoff.

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

At this point, we will complete the day's tour of the airfield and wait until nighttime in order to contemplate the most beautiful picture of the night illumination of the airfield, and at the same time understand what certain 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, taxiway indication, as well as for providing aircraft crews with complete visual information when taking off, landing and taxiing aircraft.

Airport lights come in low and high intensity. In the specialized literature they are designated as LMI (Low Intensity Lights) and HVI (High Intensity Lights).

The difference between OMI and OVI is the luminous intensity of the lights used in the systems. Low intensity corresponds to a light intensity of less than 10,000 kDa (lamps up to 100 W), and high intensity corresponds to a light intensity of more than 10,000 kDa (150/200 W lamps).

In addition, there is a certain procedure for turning on airport lights. Briefly, the rules are as follows.

The lighting system is turned on:

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

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

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

The system turns off:

With sunrise;

In the daytime - with visibility more than 2000 m;

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

The general airport lighting system consists of several subsystems of lights, grouped according to certain characteristics. 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 trail, accurately indicating the true position of the runway. The chain of lights is located from 300 to 900 meters before the start of the strip, depending on its ICAO category.

In addition to the center line, the subsystem includes skylights located perpendicular to the runway center line lights. Light horizons are necessary 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 can be several light horizons. In this case, the horizons are located 150 meters from each other strictly perpendicular to the center line of the runway. It is interesting that if additional horizons are included in the system, then the straight lines drawn through their external lights should converge at a calculated point at a distance of 300 meters beyond the runway threshold, indicating the approximate point of contact of the runway 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 edge lights, which are located along the entire length of the strip 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 lights at the end of the runway where the color of the lights changes to yellow. In addition, the side lights between the beginning of the runway and the displaced threshold are red. For information - a displaced runway threshold, a runway threshold that 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. Entrance lights use green color and emit strictly in the direction of the landing aircraft.

Entry lights are logically complemented by runway end lights. They are installed at the end of the runway, 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 red color directed towards the runway.

Between the entrance and boundary lights there are several groups of lights that finally define the runway in dark time days and in poor visibility.

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

Touchdown zone lights serve to designate the landing zone on a runway to facilitate landing in poor visibility conditions. The lights are installed in two rows parallel to the runway axis in a section of 900 m from the runway threshold using white light emission.

Landing sign lights are placed in two groups, with at least 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.

When considering taxiways, we have already talked about high-speed exits from the runway. The ones that are located at an acute angle to the runway and allow the ship to leave it at increased 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.

Lights indicating a high-speed taxiway are yellow, while the center line of the taxiway is green. The chain of these lights starts near the center line of the runway and then leads to 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 display of the full circuit of lights. Everything is clear here without extended comments. The speed of the ship is high and a faulty circuit can lead to serious accidents. In addition, to avoid confusion in navigation, these lights are specially screened so that they are visible only from a given direction.

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

Taxiway and exit lights.

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

Stop lights designed to prohibit the movement of vessels at taxiway intersections, taxiway junctions with runways, or taxi-holding areas. These lights completely replace daytime signs with high intensity lights in low visibility conditions. The brake lights are unidirectional, red.

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

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

Airfield light signs are used to guide aircraft crews when moving around the airfield. These can be special traffic lights that emit red when traffic is prohibited and green when it is allowed, as well as yellow indicator arrows.

Concluding the consideration of airfield light indication, I will briefly mention such a group as glide path lights. For an ordinary observer, full observation of the lights of this subsystem is practically inaccessible since they are designed for pilots to carry out visual control of 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 estimated glide path during landing.

Each glide path light emits white light at the top and red light at the bottom. The distribution angles of the light beams, in combination with the installation of the lights themselves, are positioned so that the pilot, when landing, sees all the glide path lights red when the aircraft is below the normal glide path, and all lights 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 high 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 do successfully in different parts of the globe.