# can somebody explain post-landing taxi procedures? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 31, 2019, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-post-landing-taxi-procedures/828706 "2019-01-31T02:41:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-post-landing-taxi-procedures/828706/21 "2019-02-03T01:44:28Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Lawrence on a nice summer day mid-day. The controller was good but not in the mood for chit-chat or mistakes. She definitely earning her money that day. > > The last lessons I took were in Addison, TX where my new instructor cheerfully informed me that it was the busiest single runway airport in the world with lots of restricted airspace all around. I can believe it but Lawrence was way busier at least the day I described. > > I think I can do it but I don’t fly 100 or even 50 hours a year. Flying into busy places like that is like telling a brand new driver to drive into downtown Boston during rush hour. The busiest I ever flew into was probably Boeing Field. Sea-Tac and Renton are nearby, so there are only a couple corridors to Boeing. From the west I had to be over the West Seattle hills, under the airspace for Sea-Tac, and make a 135-degree turn to enter downwind; tricky, but gratifying to get right. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I once landed at night at a large international airport in a little four seat Mooney, and the ground controller said, ‘ever been here before?’ I said no, and he proceeded to give me turn by turn directions right to where I needed to go. That was much appreciated, because a large airport at night can be a maze of colored lights, and when you are close to the ground instead of way up in the cockpit of a heavy, you can’t really see the lighting patterns sometimes. I was pretty intimidated until that helpful controller took over. I flew into Everett once; big airport (they make 747s there), but not super crowded. You’re right about the lights; from Cessna-height, it looks like just a scattered field of blue. One thing I remember from back in the day is that the maps you had to carry for visual flight rules did not include diagrams of the taxiways at the airports you might go to. There’s no rule that says you can’t carry them, of course, but as a VFR pilot I wasn’t sure where to get that info. Maybe it’s changed since I flew; is there a good source for VFR pilots to get airport diagrams without having to get all the approach plates and charts needed for instrument flying? ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-post-landing-taxi-procedures/828706/22 "2019-02-03T14:44:31Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > A picture is worth a thousand words: > [File:Airport infrastructure.png - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Airport_infrastructure.png) Assuming north is at the top, aren’t the runway designators backwards? The pic has 27 on the left, seen when you’re on a 90-degree heading and 9 on the right, when you’re flying due west. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-post-landing-taxi-procedures/828706/23 "2019-02-03T14:59:40Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > One thing I remember from back in the day is that the maps you had to carry for visual flight rules did not include diagrams of the taxiways at the airports you might go to. There’s no rule that says you can’t carry them, of course, but as a VFR pilot I wasn’t sure where to get that info. Maybe it’s changed since I flew; is there a good source for VFR pilots to get airport diagrams without having to get all the approach plates and charts needed for instrument flying? You can get it all on your iPad now. > [@DesertDog](#): > > Assuming north is at the top, aren’t the runway designators backwards? The pic has 27 on the left, seen when you’re on a 90-degree heading and 9 on the right, when you’re flying due west. Runway numbers are designated by the direction the runway points, which is the opposite of the heading you fly to land there. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-post-landing-taxi-procedures/828706/24 "2019-02-03T16:31:06Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Runway numbers are designated by the direction the runway points, which is the opposite of the heading you fly to land there. The first bit is correct, the second bit sounds confusing. You fly a heading (approximately) of 270 to land on runway 27. The numbers are at the start of the runway, not the end. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-post-landing-taxi-procedures/828706/25 "2019-02-03T16:35:46Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > The first bit is correct, the second bit sounds confusing. You fly a heading (approximately) of 270 to land on runway 27. The numbers are at the start of the runway, not the end. And, for further clarity in reply to **Desert Dog** - you are correct, north must be down in the diagram linked in the second post, since you’d be flying left-to-right to head west and land on 27. It might have been more intuitive if they had done it the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-post-landing-taxi-procedures/828706/26 "2019-02-04T14:06:03Z")
That’s what I was thinking, based on our local airport, [Sky Harbor](https://www.google.com/maps/search/Sky+Harbor+Airport,+East+Sky+Harbor+Boulevard,+Phoenix,+AZ/@33.4299749,-112.0246423,528m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en&authuser=0). I’ve been kinda proud that our airport is not named after a dead politician. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-post-landing-taxi-procedures/828706/27 "2019-02-04T14:27:28Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > I’ve been kinda proud that our airport is not named after a dead politician. Oh, it might well become John McCain International during your lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-post-landing-taxi-procedures/828706/28 "2019-02-05T13:10:27Z")
Naw. If they didn’t rename it after Barry Goldwater, McCain has no chance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-post-landing-taxi-procedures/828706.md?page=1)