What does the number painted on a runway mean?

The runway designator is the magnetic heading of that runway direction rounded to the nearest 10 degrees, with the trailing zero dropped. Runway 09 points about 090 degrees and the same strip used the other way is Runway 27, since the two headings differ by 180 degrees.

What are the broad white bars before the touchdown zone?

Those two wide rectangles are the aiming point marking, placed about 300 metres or 1,000 feet past the threshold. Pilots use them as a visual target so the aircraft touches down in the right part of the runway.

What is a displaced threshold?

A displaced threshold moves the start of the landing area further down the runway, shown by white arrows leading to a solid threshold bar. The paved area before it can be used for take-off and roll-out but not for touchdown, often because of obstacles on the approach.

Why are some runway markings yellow instead of white?

Runway markings are white, but yellow is used for surfaces that are not usable for normal operations. Yellow chevrons mark blast pads or stopways, and a yellow demarcation bar separates a displaced threshold from a preceding taxiway or unusable pavement.

What do the paired bars in the touchdown zone indicate?

Touchdown zone markings appear as groups of one, two, and three bars arranged in pairs at 150 metre intervals. They identify the touchdown zone and give the pilot distance-along-the-runway information during the landing flare and roll-out.

What is the Airport Runway Marking Reference?

Visual reference for FAA and ICAO runway markings including the runway designator, centreline, threshold bars, aiming point, touchdown zone, displaced threshold, and chevrons, with a filter to find any marking by name or meaning. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Airport Runway Marking Reference

Name: Airport Runway Marking Reference
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Understanding runway markings

Runway markings are a standardised visual language painted in white that tells pilots where the runway begins, where to aim, and where they are along its length. This reference covers the FAA and ICAO markings you will see on a precision-instrument runway: the runway designator, centreline, threshold bars, aiming point, touchdown zone, side stripes, displaced threshold, and chevrons. Filter the list to jump straight to any marking.

How it works

The most-asked-about marking is the runway designator. It encodes the runway’s magnetic heading:

designator = round(magnetic_heading / 10)   trailing zero dropped
heading 094  ->  09
heading 273  ->  27

Because a single strip of pavement can be flown from either end, each runway has two designators 180 degrees (18 in designator units) apart, such as 09/27. Parallel runways add L, C, or R for left, centre, and right. The remaining markings are positional: threshold bars mark the landing start, the aiming point sits 300 m in, and touchdown-zone bars step away in 150 m increments.

Key markings explained

Runway designator. The two-digit number painted at each end encodes the magnetic heading divided by 10, with the trailing zero dropped. Runway 09 points roughly east (~090°); Runway 27 points roughly west (~270°). Because one strip of pavement has two directions, you always see a pair: 09/27, 14/32, and so on. Parallel runways append L (left), C (centre), or R (right) when three parallels exist.

Threshold. The threshold is the start of the usable landing area. A full threshold is marked by a row of white stripes spanning the runway width — the number of stripes is proportional to runway width. A displaced threshold shows white arrows leading up to a solid white line; the paved area before it may be used for take-off roll and for roll-out after landing, but not for touchdown.

Aiming point. Two large white rectangles sit on each side of the centreline, about 300 metres (1,000 feet) from the threshold on a standard runway. These give pilots a visual target during the approach. Touching down at or near the aiming point keeps the aircraft in the strongest part of the runway and well within the touchdown zone.

Touchdown zone markings. Starting just beyond the threshold, pairs of white rectangular bars appear at 150-metre intervals down each side of the centreline. Three pairs appear initially, reducing to two pairs, then one pair, giving the pilot a sense of distance consumed during the landing roll. They define the touchdown zone — typically the first 3,000 feet (about 900 metres) of the runway.

Centreline. A dashed white line running the full length of the runway. On the approach end, the dashes become progressively closer together as you near the threshold, providing an additional depth-of-field cue during low-visibility approaches.

Chevrons. Yellow V-shaped markings indicate surfaces that are not available for normal operations — blast pads (areas that can withstand jet blast but not landing aircraft), stopways, and overrun areas. If you see yellow chevrons, that pavement is off-limits for normal use.

Tips and notes

Colour is the quickest cue. White means an active runway surface; yellow means a surface you should not use normally — chevrons for blast pads and stopways, a demarcation bar before a displaced threshold. The stripe count in threshold markings also encodes runway width, so a wider runway shows more longitudinal bars at its start.

One practical study tip: trace a mental flight path from final approach through the flare to roll-out, noting which markings you would pass and what each one tells you. Threshold → aiming point → touchdown zone → centreline → end of runway is the sequence, and every marking along it answers a specific question about where you are and what is ahead.