03-B: Traffic Pattern

Knowledge

K1: Towered and nontowered airport operations

Airport diagram:
- A: displaced threshold to be used for taxiing and take-off but not landing (- B: runway threshold) confirm
- C: closed runway with X' on the closed runway (- D: demarcation line) confirm
- E: overrun area
Nontowered calls:
- takeoff and departure call
  - broadcast intentions prior to taxi and announce runway of depature
Collision avoidance
- collision course indications
  - no apparent relative motion between your aircraft and the other aircraft
airport signs an markings
- found in the AIM

K2: Traffic pattern selection for the current conditions

General
- comply with any FAA traffic pattern established for the airport
- also follow the FAA departure procedures for the airport
- if none is indicated, left turns are standard (including class G)
Situation
- Given
  - runway 08-26, left patterns
  - calm winds 08 preferred
  - thunderstorm 6 miles west
- Assessment
  - runway 08 is facing 080, i.e., east
  - approach to 08 goes from west to east
  - would required to fly close to the storm to then fly with a potentially developing tailwind from the storm
  - use 26 instead
Runway designation
- based on magnetic
- drop the trailing zero
- examples:
  - 35 is 350° magnetic
  - 7 is 70° magnetic
traffic pattern
- Standard altitude
  - Light aircraft: 1000 AGL
- Standard direction: left
- Entry
  - From the downwind side (i.e., pattern side)
    - Into 45 entry leg joining downwind midfield
    - LEFT pattern needs RIGHT turn (and vice versa)
  - from the upwind side (i.e., opposite side)
    - Non busy: Cross at pattern altitude and join downwind midfield
    - Busy: Teardrop
    - overfly at TPA+500 (or TPA+1000 if large aircraft use high TPA), fly out 2 miles (1 mile to cross downwind, 1 mile margin), descend to TPA, and teardrop into left or right 45 entry leg
    - Teardrop and needs turn opposite to traffic pattern
      - for a LEFT traffic pattern, the tear drop turns RIGHT (same as turn direction rule above)
    - for a RIGHT traffic pattern the tear drop turns LEFT

K3: Right-of-way rules

underlying principle of the right-of-way rules is ensure see-and-avoid
the aircraft that always has the right-of-way is the aircraf in distress
an aircraft towing or refuleing has the right-of-way over all other engine-driven aircraft
same-category convergence:
- the aircraft on the right has right-of-way, i.e.,
- the aircraft on the left shall give way
glider over airship over airplane over rotorcraft
when two aircraft are converging on landing,
- the lower aircraft has right of way
- but not shall take in advantage of it to cut the line.
Examples:
- Example 1:
  - Situation
    - Airplane and airship are converging with the airplane on the right.
  - Analysis:
    - Airplane and airship are of different categories.
    - Then, airship has the right-of-way.
- Example 2:
  - situation
    - Airplane and glider are converging head-on.
  - analysis:
    - both aircraft shall side-step right.
Near mid air collision (NMAC)
- 500 feet
- should be reported
  - to FSS by radio or telephone or
  - FAA FSDO in writing
- most on clear days due to increased activity
- Blossom effect takes place in the last seconds only
collision avoidance
- scanning:
  - systematically focus on different segments of the sky for short intervals
  - series of short, regularly spaced eye movements in 10-degree sectors
- small, gentle bankings turns to improve view of the surroundings
FAR AIM 4-3-24c Use of Aircraft Lights
- Operation Lights On
  - turn on lights upon receiving take-off clearance
  - keep lights on, day or night,
    - below 10'000 MSL or
    - esp. within 10 miles airport or
    - during conditions of reduced visibility or
    - in presence of flocks of bird

K4: Use of automated weather and airport information

wind indicators (http://avstop.com/ac/power_parachute/chapter5_12.html)
- Wind sock
  - Wind blows into the sock
  - Shows both wind strength and direction
- Tetrahedron
  - Weathervanes into the wind, with the thick end pointing along the wind direction
  - wind comes from the pointy direction
  - Shows only wind direction and can be manually overridden
- Wind tee
  - Weathervanes into the wind, with the long bar of the tee pointing along the wind
  - Shows only wind direction and can be manually overridden
- Segmented circle / Wind Sock Landing Indicator (Figure 50)
  - shows traffic pattern per runway
  - short leg represents base leg
  - base legs can be completed to a rectangle pattern
  - given configuration
    - left-hand RW 36
    - right-hand RW 18
    - wind prefers left-hand RW 36
    - Southeast is avoided
Beacon signals
- White, green, yellow: heliport (think ADAC-Rettungshubschrauber)
- 2x quick white, one green: military
- white, green: civil

Airport information

Chart Supplement (=Airport Facility Directory)
- revised every 56 days (2x28)
ATIS
- Airport Terminal Information Service
NOTAM
- Notice to Airmen/Air Missions

Airport types

By purpose
- Commercial services airport (3 requirements: publicly owned, more than 2500 passenger emplanements annually, schedules lines)
- Cargo services airport
- Reliever airport
- General aviation airport
By user group
- Civil airports
- Military/government airport
- Private airport
By ATC involvement
- Untowered airport
  - No services
  - UNICOM services
  - FSS services
- Towered airport

Airport markings and signs:

Resource: - https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html/chap2_section_3.html - https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/SignsAndMarkings_one-doc.pdf

Simply study the lines on the different runways of KJFK/KEWR/KBLM on Google Maps

Runway threshold bar

length:
10 feet (3m)
width:
full runway width

Runway threshold markings (= threshold stripes)

number of stripes depending on runway width
60 feet: 4 stripes
75 feet: 6 stripes
100 feet: 8 stripes
150 feet: 12 stripes
200 feet: 16 stripes
length:
usually around 150 feet

Threshold relocation marking

rules in front of relocated threshold
- no take-off
- no landing
- taxiing ok
representation (think: taxi colors -> taxi only)
- yellow arrow heads pointing to white threshold bar
- yellow center line
attention:
don't confuse with yellow arrow heads pointing to yellow (instead of white) demarcation bar (see below)

Threshold displacement marking

rules in front of displaced threshold:
- take-off ok (think: Princeton 28, short-field training)
- no landing (think: Princeton 28, building obstruction clearance)
- taxiing ok
representation:
- white arrow heads
- white arrows along the center line

Blastpad and stopways

rules:
blastpad:
- could enclose an EMAS (Engineered Material Arrestor System)
- does not support the aircraft weight
stopway:
- supports the aircraft weight
representation:
full-width yellow chevrons

Demarcation bar between blastpad/stopway and displacement zone

rules
separation between
- displacemented zone of a runway with a displaced threshold
- blastpad/stopway
representation:
yellow bar between displacement markings and blastpad markings

Demarcation bar between taxiway and displacement zone

rules
separation between
- displacemented zone of a runway with a displaced threshold
- taxiway
representation:
yellow bar between displacement markings and blastpad markings
yellow arrow heads pointing to the yellow line

Runway designation marking (runway numbers)

rules
- Magnetic azimuth divided by ten, rounded to integer
methods of thinking about runway numbers in the cockpit
Deriving the numbers given a runway and a compass
- Method 1
- Think of the runway
- Mentally place compass rose into middle of runway
- Take take-off perspective
- See where runway insects with FAR side of compass rose
- Equivalent method 2
- Take take-off/approach perspective
- Read which direction the heading indicator is pointing
Deriving the direction given the numbers
- Method 1.
- Given the numbers, point to the associated heading (28 -> 280)
- That is the direction we want to be facing when taking off from or landing on that runway

remember: Wind is indicated by the direction it is coming from (holding the compass, where does the wind come from?)

length:
60 feet

Runway centerline marking

length:
one stripe: 120 feet
one gap: 80 feet
combined: 200 feet

Aiming point marking (= thousand footers)

rules:
positioned 1000 feet from the landing threshold
representation:
single rectangle on either side
length:
- around 150 feet
width:
- around a quarter of the runway width

Runway Touchdown Zone Markers

markings:
1800 feet around the runway midpoint are free
first 3000 feet from the threshold, every 500 feet
stripes reduce by sequence
- three bars per side:
  - 500 feet
  - 1000 feet is replaced by the thousand footers (- aiming point markings)
- two bars per side:
  - 1500 feet
  - 2000 feet
- one bar per side:
  - 2500 feet
  - 3000 feet
- length:
- 80 feet

Runway Safety Area (RSA) boundary sign and marking (backside of the runway holding position sign)

Rules
- indicates runway exit, i.e., the runway-to-taxiway transition
- can be crossed without clearance
Representation
- Sign
  - 2 dashed black lines under 2 solid black lines on yellow background
  - taxiway name in yellow surrounded by yellow square on on black background
- Marking
  - 2 dashed yellow lines under 2 solid yellow lines on black background (color scheme inverted compared to sign!)

Runway holding position sign and marking (backside of runway safety area boundary sign)

rules
- most important sign of the runway
- indicates runway entrance, i.e., taxiway-to-runway transition
- at towered airports, can only be crossed with ATC clearance
- at untowered airports, cross only after 1) visually, auditively, and electronically clearing final and runway and 2) after self-announcing
- can define the holding position
- on taxiways for
  - runways
  - runway approach and departure areas (runway designation followed by -APCH, e.g., 15-APCH)
- on runways for LAHSO (Land and Hold Short) operations
- on narrow taxiways (< 150 feet) located on the left to be most readable to the left seat for the PIC
representation for runways
- sign
  - optional: taxiway name in yellow, surrounded by square on black background
  - runway designation
    - at runway end
      - single white runway designation on red background (red as in the runway safety area boundary chart)
    - taxiway intersecting mid-runway
      - Left runway end number and right runway end number in that order, separated by a dash
    - taxiway into a runway-runway intersection
      - multiple runway designations, annotated by runway-aligned arrows arrows
- marking
  - Runway holding position marking
    - Yellow solid lines under yellow dashed lines on black background
  - optional: runway designations in
    - white font on red background
  - optional: enhanced taxiway centerline
    - standard yellow solid taxiway centerline sandwiched by dashed yellow lines on black background
    - starts 150 feet prior to the runway

Runway side stripe marking

rules
separates runway area from runway shoulder
representation:
solid white line

Runway shoulder marking

rules
shoulder not intended for use
representation
solid yellow lines perpendicular to the side stripe

Runway distance remaining sign

- rules
    - 1000 foot spacing
- sign
    - White font on fully black square-shaped sign

Runway location sign

representation
yellow font numbers on black background enclosed by yellow border

Taxiway markings and signs

Normal taxiway centerline marking

rules
no guarantees for wingtip clearance
representation:
single solid yellow line with 6 to 12 inches in width

Enhanced taxiway center line marking

rules
increaes alertness for holding positions
representation
standard yellow solid taxiway centerline sandwiched by dashed yellow lines on black background
starts 150 feet prior to the runway

Continuous taxiway edge marking

rules
should never be crossed
representation
solid double yellow line

Dashed taxiway edge marking

rules
can be crossed for operational needs
representation
broken double yellow line
double lines 6 inches apart from each other
line segments
- 15 feet stripe
- 25 feet gap

Taxiway shoulder marking

rules
never enter
representation
- yellow lines perpendicular to the taxiway edge

Taxiway direction signs

representation
black font letters on yellow backgroud

Runway destination sign

representation (same representation as taxiway direction signs)
black font numbers on yellow backgroud

Taxiway location signs

representation
yellow font letters on black background enclosed by yellow border

ILS holding position markings

rules
can only be crossed with ATC clearance
representation
white font "ILS" on red background

ILS boundary sign

representation
ILS symbol (horizontal ladder with double steps) in black font on yellow background

Geographic position marking

representation
black font on pink background in a circle shape

Other markings

Vehicle Roadway Edge Stripes (zipper-style)

representation
single white line

Vehicle Roadway Edge Stripes (single edge)

representation

Vehicle Roadway Stop Stripes

representation
wide, thick rectangle across the lane

VOR Receiver Checkpoint Markings

Nonmovement Area Boundary Markings

representation
single dashed yellow line over solid yellow line

Airport lighting

airport beacon
- Angle
  - 1-10 degrees above horizon
- direction
  - Omnidirectional or rotating
- used
- at night
- at day at times of reduced visibility (3 SM, 1000 feet ceiling)
- flashing sequence
  - white/green: civilian land airport
  - white/yellow: civilian water airport
  - white/yellow/green: heliport
  - white/white/green: military airport
visual glideslope indicators
- Visual Approach Slope Indicators (VASIs)
  - Obstacle clearance within 10 degrees (+/- 5 or 10?) of the extended centerline from 4NM miles to the runway
  - Two or three bars with the same color information in all units per bar
    - Red/red; too low
    - Top red/bottom white: on glidepath
    - white/white: Above glide path
- Precision Approach Path Indicators (PAPIs)
  - Single Bar with two units (Think Princeton)
  - Single Bar with four units
    - white/white/white/white: above glide path (e.g., above 3.5deg)
    - white/white/white/red: slightly above glide path (e.g., above 3.2deg)
    - white/white/red/red/red: on glide path
    - white/red/red/red: slightly below glide path
    - red/red/red/red: below glide path
- tri-color indicator
  - From high to low:
    - amber
    - green
    - amber
    - red
- Pulsating
  - From high to low
    - Pulsating white
    - On slope: White
    - Red
    - Pulsating red
    - Fast pulsating red
  - Mnemonic: pulsating = requires attention
runway lights
- Runway End Identifier Lights (REIL)
  - Location
    - Laterally at the threshold
  - Flashing pattern
    - Flashing
  - Direction
    - Omnidirectional or approach-facing unidirectional
  - Color
    - Red
- Runway Edge Lights
  - Intensities
    - High Intensity Runway Lights (HIRL), adjustable
    - Medium Intensity Runway Lights (MIRL), adjustable
    - Low Intensity Runway Lights (LIRL)
  - Color sequence
    - Visual runways: white
    - Instrument runways:
      - Threshold to 2000 feet remaining or midpoint: white
      - Remaining 2000 feet or remain wing half: amber
- In-Runway Lights
  - Runway Centerline Lighting System (RCLS)
    - Location
      - Centerline
    - Color a equence
      - Threshold to 3000-remaining segment: white
      - 3000 feet to 1000 feet remaining: alternating white and red
      - Remaining 1000 feet: red
  - Touchdown zone lights (TDZL)
    - Location
      - A double row on either side of the runway, parallel to the centerline
    - Color sequence
      - Thousand footers to 3000 feet or runway midpoint: white
  - Taxi centerline lead-off and lead-on lights
    - Location
      - Runway centerline to runway exit, colocated with the taxi centerline within the boundaries of the runway safety area and the ILS critical area
    - color sequence
      - Alternating green and yellow
  - Land and hold short lights (LAHSO lights)
    - Location
      - Colocated with the holding position
    - Colors
      - White flashing when LAHSO is in effect
  - Runways Status lights (RWSL)
    - Principle
      - Indicative of conflicting traffic
      - No information about ATC clearance
    - Locations
      - Runway Entrance Light (REL)
        
        Colocated with the Runway Holding Position Marking
taxiway lights
Taxiway Edge Lights
- color: blue
Taxiway Center Light
- color: green
- pattern: steady
Taxiway Clearance Bar Lights
- location: taxiway holding positions
- installment: in-pavement
- pattern: steady
- color: yellow
Runway Guard Lights
- location:
Stop bar lights

Communications

frequencies
- CTAF (122.7, 122.725, 122.8, 122.9, 122.975, 123.0)
- MULTICOM (122.9)
- Point (e.g., Point Niner): default to 121 major frequency: 121.9
NORDO (no radio) tower light signals
Steady green: cleared
- Ground: cleared for take off
- Air: cleared to land
Flashing green: go ahead
- Ground: cleared for taxiing
- Air: return for landing
Steady red: wait
- Ground: stop
- Air: circle giving way to other aircraft
Flashing red: go away
- Ground: vacate runway
- Air: airport unsafe, do not land
Flashing white: back to parking
- Ground: back to parking
- Air: n/a
Alternate red/green:
- extreme caution

ATC equipment - Primary radar - Time-of-flight and reflection-based - Max ca. 0.2 Hz - Secondary radar - Ground stations: ATC-RBS (ATC Radio Beacon System) - Transponder - Squawk codes - 1200, VFR - 7500, hijacking - 7600, NORDO, radio lost - 7700, emergency. - ADSB (Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast) - Air-to-air - - TIS-B - Traffic Information Service Broadcast - ground station to ADS-B - FIS-B - Flight Information Service Broadcast - weather from ground station - lags approx. 15 minutes

ATC - TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control): terminal separation and sequencing - ARTCC (Air Route Traffic Control Center): en-route separation - TRSA (Terminal Radar Service Area): - FSS (Flight Service Stations): briefings and flight plan filing - Ground - Tower

Threshold rules

Displaced threshold think: tttthrshold - tttakeoff - Taxiing - But not lllanding