PILOT TRAINING

 Did you know; of course you didn't, so here goes.  It's nice when everyone gets together and agrees on one thing like this.

The stripes down the center of every airport runway are painted 120 feet long.  The distance between stripes is 80 feet.  That makes 200 feet from the beginning of one strip to the beginning of the next.  This helps the pilot judge distances when landing.  Very important!

Runway numbers are determined by the first two digits of the degree from north in the direction of landing.  Here's what that means.  There are 360 degrees in a circle.  The very top of the circle is the point where 360° meets 0° and the very bottom is 180 degrees.  So direct north is 360° and direct south is 180°;  direct east is 90° and west 270°.  Got it so far?  Okay!  

So a runway on which you are landing from due north toward due south would be runway 36.  If you are landing on the same runway from south to north, it is called runway 18.  CVG runways happen to be directly north-south and east west so that's how they are named.  Runways can be placed in any convenient direction so the number would change accordingly.  Every plane has a compass on it to show the pilot which direction he is going and, of course, landing.

Air traffic controllers (ATC) choose the runway and direction of take-off and landing to accommodate the wind, weather, airplane type, special situations and convenience to airport facilities.  Without the ATC, the country would be shut down.  The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) handles around 45,000 flights on a typical day.  At any given moment, about 5,000 aircraft are in the sky over the U.S, 

Fly safely, friends.  I wish you one of my favorite words: GODSPEED.  Merriam-Webster defines it as:  "a prosperous and successful journey".