Page 248 - Planning and Design of Airports

212 Airp o r t D e sign

Airplane Design Group
I * I II III IV
Visual or nonprecision runway
centerline to
Taxiway or taxilane centerline † 150 225 240 300 400
Hold line † 125 200 200 200 250
Helicopter touchdown pad 400 400 400 400 400
Aircraft parking area 125 200 250 400 500
Precision instrument runway
centerline to
Taxiway or taxilane centerline † 200 250 300 350 400
Hold line † 175 250 250 250 ‡ 250 ‡
Helicopter touchdown pad 400 400 400 400 400
Aircraft parking area 400 400 400 400 500

* For facilities for small aircraft only.
† Satisfies the requirement that no part of an aircraft at a holding an increase to these
separations may be needed to achieve this result.
‡ For sea level up to elevation 6000 ft. Increase by 1 ft for each 100 ft of airport elevation
above 6000 ft.
Source: Federal Aviation Administration [6].
TABLE 6-12 Airfield Separation Criteria for Aircraft in Approach Categories A and
B, ft

The number of slope changes along the runway is also limited.
The FAA requires that the distance between the points of intersection
of two successive curves should not be less than the sum of the abso-
lute percentage values of change in slope multiplied by the 250 ft for
airports serving aircraft approach category A and B aircraft and 1000 ft
for airports serving aircraft approach category C, D, and E aircraft.
The ICAO requires that the distance between the points of intersec-
tion of two successive curves should not be less than the sum of the
absolute percentage values of change in slope multiplied by 50 m
(165 ft) for aerodrome code number 1 and 2 runways, 150 m (500 ft)
for aerodrome code number 3 runways, and 300 m (1000 ft) for aero-
drome code number 4 runways. ICAO also specifies that the mini-
mum distance in all cases is 45 m (150 ft).
For example, for an FAA runway serving transport aircraft, that is,
approach category C, D, or E aircraft, if the change in slope was 1.5
percent, the required length of vertical curve would be 1500 ft. Vertical
curves are normally not necessary if the change in slope is not more
than 0.4 percent. The FAA specifies a minimum length of vertical tran-
sition curve of 300 for each 1 percent change in grade for runways