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Gyroplanes parked outside a row of hangars

Ground school lesson

Airports and runway numbers

Runway 27 is not the twenty-seventh runway. Once you know what the number means, an unfamiliar airport stops being a puzzle.

My Hangar

Lesson 17 of 27 · 3 steps · about 7 minutes · ends with a quiz

What you will be able to do

  • Read a runway number and know which way it points.
  • Fly a standard traffic pattern and name each leg.
  • Tell a towered field from a non-towered one, and know who you talk to.

  1. Step 1 of 3

    The number is a compass heading

    A runway number is its magnetic heading, rounded to the nearest ten degrees, with the last digit dropped. Runway 09 points about 090°, due east. Turn around and take off the other way and the same strip of concrete is Runway 27, pointing 270°, due west.

    That is why the two ends of one runway always differ by 18: 180° apart, divided by ten.

    One runway, two numbers A single east-west runway is numbered 09 at its west end for a heading of 090 degrees, and 27 at its east end for a heading of 270 degrees. 09 27 Take off this way → heading 090° ← Take off this way → heading 270° N is up. The two ends always differ by 18.
    One runway, two numbers, 180° apart.

  2. Step 2 of 3

    The traffic pattern

    Aircraft do not arrive at an airport from random directions. They join a rectangular circuit around the runway so everybody knows where everybody else is. Unless the airport says otherwise, the turns are to the left.

    Standard left-hand traffic pattern A rectangular circuit around the runway with the legs named upwind, crosswind, downwind, base and final, turning left. Upwind Crosswind Downwind Base Final
    The standard circuit. Left turns unless the airport specifies right traffic.

  3. Step 3 of 3

    Towered and non-towered fields

    Towered

    A controller sequences the traffic and you need two-way radio contact before you enter. Class B, C and D airports are towered. As a sport pilot you need a specific instructor endorsement before you operate at one.

    Non-towered

    Nobody is directing traffic. Pilots announce their position and intentions on a common frequency, the CTAF, and everybody sequences themselves. Most gyroplane flying starts here.

    Both kinds of field publish a pattern altitude, the direction of turns, and which runway is preferred. Look them up before you go rather than working it out overhead.

    A gyroplane needs very little runway and lands nearly vertically into wind, which makes quiet non-towered fields a natural home for training. That does not make the pattern optional: you share it with faster aircraft that need it.

Check yourself

3 questions. Pick an answer to see whether it is right and why.

  1. A runway is numbered 18. Roughly which way does it point?

  2. Unless the airport specifies otherwise, which way do you turn in the traffic pattern?

  3. At a non-towered airport, who sequences the traffic?

Reading and practice are free. Create an account to save progress and private notes.

FAA Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge and the Aeronautical Information Manual (public domain). Pattern altitudes and traffic direction for a specific field come from the chart supplement.