6
$\begingroup$

enter image description here

This mark is identified as a plane control marking and based on an apron surface. What does it mean?

Improve this question
$\endgroup$

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
17
$\begingroup$

The marking indicates that vehicles must yield to aircraft. It is placed in areas where a service road crosses a taxiway.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
6
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ Just seems like common sense to yield to the 20 ton difficult to steer behemoth but at least with the sign there's legal liability. Like us getting a failure to yield ticket. $\endgroup$
    – corsiKa
    Apr 17, 2020 at 22:56
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ @corsiKa At that point, the ticket seems like a case of "arson, murder, and jaywalking". $\endgroup$
    – chrylis -cautiouslyoptimistic-
    Apr 17, 2020 at 23:02
  • $\begingroup$ @corsiKa In aviation we have a thing for redundancy and additional layers of safety :) $\endgroup$
    – 60levelchange
    Apr 18, 2020 at 6:38
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Re, "common sense..." Seafarers often call that "The Law of Gross Tonnage." $\endgroup$
    – Solomon Slow
    Apr 18, 2020 at 13:40
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @corsiKa, it is common sense to yield to the 200 ton behemoth, but the point of the sign is to remind you that you are about to enter area where those behemoths regularly move and therefore this is the right place to stop and check you are not going to run into any. $\endgroup$
    – Jan Hudec
    Apr 18, 2020 at 23:54
1
$\begingroup$

It's a stop sign. Implying stop, then yield.

Here, a left-right access road crosses an up-down taxiway.

The sign directs street vehicles, not airplanes.

In US/DOT vernacular, widely copied: shape is everything. All octagonal signs are stop signs, just as all inverted triangle signs are yields, all round signs are RR approaches, and all crossbucks are RR tracks. They can be snow covered, they can have a clarifying suffix such as "Eating Meat", they can be paisley, they can be green and say "Go". They all mean "stop, then yield". The shape overrides the art.

Obviously, this is painted on a surface, rather than on a standing sign, for operational reasons. But the choice of octagon, coupled with red with white border design language, does everything possible to invoke the standard DOT style of a highway traffic stop sign. It would be grossly negligent for any surface vehicle operator to do anything other than stop and search for something to yield to.

Note that a standard STOP sign gives no clue as to what exactly you are yielding to. The driver is obliged to figure that out from context. (Although sometimes on the highway, DOTs will add nearby clues outside of the stop sign proper; here there would be a supplemental sign indicating "taxiway" in words or graphics).

This particular STOP sign is non-standard, and no DOT would install it on a highway. However the design language makes the purpose crystal clear: Stop, then yield for something... With a big hint as to the typical "something".

And the design is a bit whimsical; obviously the yellow line does not separate two distinct lanes of airplanes as the graphic might suggest.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .