Questions tagged [airport-design]
Questions about the planning and design of airports: both the manoeuvring area itself, and the services and passenger facilities.
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How much force does a 747 land with?
I've been told before that the runways for large commercial aircraft have to be built to withstand a large amount of force. But I'm wondering exactly how much it is? When a 747 touches down, how ...
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Why do farmers register their fields as airports?
(this seems to be primarily a US phenomenon)
So in the vicinity of my parents' place (in a rural area in Indiana), there are several registered airports within several miles' radius. I remember when ...
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Why does Schiphol Airport have such a long taxi?
I recently flew into Schiphol and experienced a very long taxi time (about 20 minutes) from landing to pulling into the pier at the terminal. Given that the flight was only 90 minutes from closing air ...
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How flat does a runway need to be?
I always assumed that big runways are flat (or more specifically straight: they might have a slight slope in either direction), but while watching some crosswind landing footage shot at Birmingham ...
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Are zero visibility landings a possibility for the future of commercial aviation?
Airports usually close or slow down activities in fog conditions, e.g. this seems to be a significant problem in winter at Delhi airport.
Large commercial aircraft would be able to land with no ...
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Why do passenger embark on the left side of an aircraft?
I speak of passenger aircraft that can be found on large airports.
The left side is used by passengers (and the crew) to embark/disembark (see the position of jet bridges) and the other side to embark/...
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Why are Oscar, India, and X-Ray (O, I, and X) not used as taxiway identifiers?
An old CAR "Licensing of Aerodromes" document indicated that taxiways may not be designated by O, I, or X.
Is this still in effect today? Why were (or are) those not used as taxiway identifiers?
My ...
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Why is Heraklion airport a 'captains only' airport?
I was recently watching "EasyJet: Inside The Cockpit" and it said pilots need 4 shoulder stripes to land at Heraklion International Airport, “Nikos Kazantzakis” (IATA: HER, ICAO: LGIR), but it didn't ...
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Why do airports in the UK have so few runways?
Almost all of the major airports in the United Kingdom are single-runway (or functionally-single-runway) installations, with only two of the very busiest (Heathrow and Manchester) having as many as ...
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Why do airliners park with the nose facing the terminal?
A few other questions have touched on why we don't board airliners from the front and back at the same time. My question is why is it that we choose to board at the front, rather than park the ...
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Why are most runways made of asphalt and not concrete?
From the little I know about vehicles in cities, nowadays concrete is preferred to asphalt for road construction as, while initially more expensive, concrete is supposed to be cheaper to maintain.
...
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Why would an ILS installation need a “reflecting surface” around the glideslope antenna?
According to the NTSB, the installation of a glideslope serving runway 11 at KHTS (Tri-State Airport, Huntington, West Virginia) was delayed for over twelve years by the lack of suitable terrain for ...
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Why do simultaneous-ops parallel runways need to be so far apart?
In the answers to this question about Denver's widely-scattered pinwheel of runways and this question about Schiphol's runway out in the middle of nowhere, it's mentioned that parallel runways are ...
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Why don't short runways use (downhill) ramps for takeoff?
This is a followup on question: Why don't short runways use ramps for takeoff?
There are multiple answers to that question that answer why an uphill ramp at the end of the runway does not make ...
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Would building an airport at 30,000 ft save money?
So... this would obviously cost a ton of money initially, but long-term, I believe the savings both environmentally and financially would be returned many times over.
If a building can already be ...
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Why are Gatwick's runways too close together?
Gatwick Airport has two runways (08L/26R and 08R/26L), but they are only 200 metres apart - too close (by just ten metres) to allow simultaneous operations on both runways. As a result, usually only ...
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Why don't short runways use ramps for takeoff?
Say you had a runway for light aircraft, but only 700 meters or so of runway. Wouldn't it help to end the runway with a ramp that is ~40 meters above ground and slightly facing the sky at a gradient ...
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What's the reason for this frog finger shaped parking lots at Köln/Bonn airport (CGN)?
Most aprons of international airports are vast areas paved with asphalt or concrete. However, I noticed this structures in the south of Köln/Bonn airport (CGN) (Google maps link):
Does anyone know ...
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How do passengers board the planes on this airport?
I found a quite "rare" layout on Munich airport. It has jetbridges but I don't see any terminal. Look:
How do passengers make it to this point of the airport? By underground?
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Are there specific surface requirements prior to an ILS Category 2 runway approach threshold to ensure the accuracy of the Radio Altimeter derived DH?
ILS Category 2 approaches use a Radio Altimeter (RA) derived DH (Decision Height). An RA measures the aircraft height directly above the surface immediately below the aircraft. Any sloping terrain, ...
user22445
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What factors are considered when a runway is planned?
What environmental factors are considered when a new runway construction is planned (e.g. winds, weather, sun direction, etc.)?
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What is the purpose of this loop in a taxiway?
This image is of Mariscal Sucre International Airport near Quito, Ecuador. (Official site / in English)
What is the purpose of the loop in the taxiway plainly visible in this image?
From Google ...
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Why is Denver International Airport runway 16R/34L rarely used?
From watching planes land at DIA on Flightradar24, none seem to ever land on 16R (longest runway in the US at a length of 16,000 ft), but instead land on a runway 4,000 ft shorter such as runway 16L (...
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Telluride (KTEX): Why is the localizer antenna located where the glideslope should be?
Telluride (KTEX) in Colorado, USA:
Source
As visible, the localizer antenna for RWY 09 is located where the glideslope antenna is usually found, abeam the touch down zone. The localizer is normally ...
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1
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Where is KBOS runway 15R's localiser array?
Of the eight major-runway directions at KBOS, five (4R, 15R, 22L, 27, and 33L) are equipped with ILS (ILS-III for 4R and 33L, ILS-I for the rest). Four of these (4R, 22L, 27, and 33L) have a ...
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For designing a runway, what are the largest cargo airplanes in use?
I am working on a project where I have to design a runway for large cargo planes and I need to know what kind of planes I should assume would land there.
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What is the safe speed to use highspeed turnoff?
I understand that high speed turnoff is for the plane to exit the runway asap. What is its design specification and how fast can a plane use highspeed turnoff? Assuming only A320,737 and larger.
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Why did the north / south runways close at Daugherty Field (KLGB)?
The north / south runway at KLGB were recently closed. Does anyone know the reason for the runway closures?
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Why doesn't Heathrow T5 have stand 504?
On the North side of Terminal 5A are four stands, 501, 502, 503, and 505. Why is there no 504?
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Why are the runways on Denver Int'l very separated from the terminals?
As you can see in the airport diagram the runways are very separated from the terminals:
I've found a similar question about Schiphol runways and one of them is very separated because of the noise. ...
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3
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1
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How is a new airport certified or approved to operate by international organizations?
I just read the news of a new airport in construction in Mexico (Mexico City). They seem to be starting operations in a few months.
In this case, researching a bit, it seems domestic and a Venezuelan ...
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Why do so few non-US runways have EMAS beds?
As occurrences of an aircraft running off the end of the runway and hitting things tend to leave both the aircraft and whatever it hits rather the worse for wear, much effort over the years has gone ...
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What is the difference between a Stand and Gate in Airports? How do they differ ?
I have seen Aircrafts having been assigned a Stand and Gate, So wanted to know whether the stand and gate are same physical location of airport or they are different but have link between them.
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Is "passenger loading bridge" a synonym to "contact stand"?
In a master plan of an international airport, which is already approved by the client, I face some confusion between the terminology of the PLB and the contact stand.
Sometimes they're mentioned just ...
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