Day Twenty-Two – Runway Changes and Unusual Circuits

There are three runways at the airport in St. Andrews: 18/36, 13/31, and 04/22.

Note: runways are numbered at each end with the magnetic heading of the direction they are facing, rounded off to the nearest 10 and omitting the last zero. So, a runway oriented north-south would be numbered 36 at the south end and 18 at the north end.

In most cases, you want to take-off and land into the wind, so the active runway is usually the one most closely aligned with the current wind direction. However, air traffic control may change your runway or ask you to alter the normal circuit pattern at any time to accommodate other traffic or improve spacing. As a pilot, you need to be able to understand and follow their instructions quickly and accurately. For these drills, the instructor simply contacts the tower shortly after take-off and gives them permission to screw you around as much as their black little hearts desire.

Quebec Papa November - follow Cessna at your two o’clock, establish right-hand circuit runway 31, resume left-hand circuit after takeoff, turn 360 degrees to your right, report when re-established downwind, cleared for touch-and-go runway 36, correction runway 04, number five behind Cessna, Westjet 456, whooping crane and Graf Zeppelin.