Runway Headings

GrantHubbell

GrantHubbell

New Member
I understand that what ever way a a runway is facing on the compass that is its name ( ex. runway heading 58 is runway 6) I was looking at pictures on airliners.net at KCLE and noticed that pictures from about 7 yrs ago said " Continental 744 is taxing to runway 5L" or something like that. But now runway 5L is 6L. Can anybody explain why the runway heading changes? Thank you
 
If the magnetic poles shift enough, I guess anything is possible. Ever wonder why the mag deviations on the secionals shift a degree or two over a couple of years? Same thing.
 
The position of magnetic north relative to true north is constantly shifting. Runway headings are based on magnetic north, so as magnetic north changes, so must the runway numbers. I think magnetic variation (the difference between true and magnetic north) is changing somewhere around 1 degree every three years in the eastern us. I may be off on that though.
 
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The Earth's magnetic field....

Seriously.

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This is normally the case...but...

Look at MCO (Orlando)...

They have four parallel runways. 36L 36R 35L 35R

They are all pointed in the same magnetic direction (003 degrees).

I always bring this up to a student. Its a loaded question.
 
yes
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They have four parallel runways. 36L 36R 35L 35R

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Not sure of the real answer, but I'll give my smar@ss one.
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It would be really confusing to have RWYs 36LL, 36L, 36C and 36R. Or 36L, 36C, 36R, 36RR if you're right handed.
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I understand that what ever way a a runway is facing on the compass that is its name ( ex. runway heading 58 is runway 6) I was looking at pictures on airliners.net at KCLE and noticed that pictures from about 7 yrs ago said " Continental 744 is taxing to runway 5L" or something like that. But now runway 5L is 6L. Can anybody explain why the runway heading changes? Thank you

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Yeah they changed around october of 2001. The earth's magnetic field will sometimes cause the magnetic headings of the runway to change. Its a fairly common thing.
 
LAX also has four parallels with same heading, north complex is the 24s and south the 25s just to avoid confusion.
 
Same thing in ATL. The southern runways are 27L/R and the northern runways are 26L/R.

I can hear it in my sleep... south and east departures expect runway 27 right, north and west departures expect runway 26 left...advise on initial contact you....have information foxtrot...

Anyhoo, they're all 272 degrees
 
I dont know, correct me if I am wrong, but LAX runways have the same heading but differant names. A random comment but LAX is one of the coolest airports I have ever been in.
 
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