Wednesday 6 May 2015

Runway names

We've been learning about runways.

Each runway has a name.

Or rather, it has a number.

No actually it has two numbers, one at each end.

When pilots and air traffic controllers talk about a runway, they just use the number at the end where the pilot is landing .  On this end is the number of the pilot's heading when they land.

We made some dials to find out this heading:
It's like a heading indicator that you get inside planes:
 Here's an A380 landing at Paris Orly. 
Zoom in to the runway to see what its number is:

 The aeroplane landing there would be going in the direction of the arrow...
The arrow points to 6, so the runway is called 06.
Here's a question for you. Can you answer it without looking... what number would be at the other end of the runway. Answer in the comments, and then check.

We had a go with another airport:
Now we're designing and naming our own runways...

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