Taxiway signs

From FlightGear wiki
Revision as of 12:28, 21 June 2014 by Bigstones (talk | contribs) (→‎Related content: + link)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Taxiway signs add a great deal of realism and information to an airport. FlightGear supports the apt.dat 850 signs specification.

Users interested in helping to improve the scenery are extremely welcome to read the Placing signs section of this article. FGSignMaker, a tool to generate taxiway sign codes, is a tool that can make placing taxiway signs easier.

Explanation of signs

There are many types of signs on airfields. The following table explains the used syntax.

Taxiway Signs

Sign 27-33.jpg Black lettering on a yellow background: direction sign: Gives directions to other installations: "Runways 27 and 33 are to your right". OBJECT_SIGN {@Y}27-33{^r}
Sign A.jpg Yellow lettering on a black background: location sign: Indicates the taxiway you are on. OBJECT_SIGN {@L}A
Sign 15-33.jpg Holding position sign: Hold here. From your position on the taxiway at midfield, the threshold for Runway 15 is to your left and the threshold for Runway 33 is to your right. This sign is located next to the yellow holding position markings painted on the taxiway pavement. OBJECT_SIGN {@R}15-33
Sign ILS.jpg ILS holding position sign: ATC may hold you at this sign when the instrument landing system is being used at the airport. Aircraft taxiing beyond this point may interfere with the ILS signal to approaching aircraft. OBJECT_SIGN {@R}ILS
Sign 15-APCH.jpg Holding position sign for approach areas: Hold here unless cleared to cross. Taxiing past this sign may interfere with arriving or departing aircraft to Runway 15. OBJECT_SIGN {@R}15-APCH
Sign safety.png Runway boundary sign: This sign faces the runway and is visible to pilots exiting the runway. Taxi past this sign (dash past the dashed lines) to be sure you are clear of the runway. OBJECT_SIGN {safety}
Sign critical.png ILS critical area boundary sign: Seen when exiting the runway, this sign marks the boundary of the ILS critical area. When ILS approaches are in use, be sure your aircraft has passed beyond this sign before stopping on the taxiway. OBJECT_SIGN {critical}
Sign hazard.png End of taxiway: Seen when a taxiway ends and a left/right turn has to be performed instead. OBJECT_SIGN {hazard}
Sign no-entry.jpg No entry sign: Do not enter this area. Aircraft are prohibited. This sign would be found at the entrance to a one-way taxiway or at the intersection of a road intended for vehicles.

Note that this sign needs the red color (@R) prefix in FlightGear!

OBJECT_SIGN {no-entry}

Placing signs

Signs can be placed by obtaining the lat/lon coordinates from a GNU GPL licensed source.

You can also use the UFO for easier positioning. Load (by pressing the l-key) the $FG ROOT/Aircraft/UFO/Models/sign.ac model to find the correct headings. After dumping the data, replace OBJECT_SHARED by OBJECT_SIGN and add the sign codes instead of Aircraft/UFO/Models/sign.ac.

Sign types

These instructions specify sign types. They refer to the sign names in the FAA specification:

Name Instructions Description
L858-Y @Y "Direction, Destination, Boundary" sign (black on yellow)
L858-R @R "Mandatory Instruction" sign (white on red with black outline)
L858-L @L "Location" sign (yellow text and frame on black)
L858-B @B "Runway Distance Remaining" sign (white on black)

These sign type specifiers are used to request FAA signs L858-Y, L858-R, L858-L and L858-B of unspecified size. It is up to the implementation to choose a default size. If the size is known, then a size digit is appended, which also refers to the FAA standard:

Size 1
0.460 m
Size 2
0.610 m
Size 3
0.760 m
Size 4
1.220 m
Size 5
0.760 m
L858-Y @Y1 @Y2 @Y3
L858-R @R1 @R2 @R3
L858-L @L1 @L2 @L3
L858-B @B4 @B5

Multi-Letter Glyph Names

^u up arrow
^d down arrow
^l left arrow
^r right arrow
^lu left-up arrow
^ru right-up arrow
^ld left-down arrow
^rd right-down arrow
r1 roman numeral I
r2 roman numeral II
r3 roman numeral III
no-entry no-entry sign (white circle with horizontal bar on red background)

Note that diagonal arrows always have the right/left letter first, as is common in Cartesian coordinate systems. So it's ru (right up), not ur.

Examples

  • OBJECT_SIGN {@Y,@l}S7{@L}B{@Y}S8{@ru} -22.592 63.985 46 72
  • OBJECT_SIGN {@Y}MAX_SPAN_52M -22.592 63.985 46 72
  • OBJECT_SIGN {@R,no-entry} -22.592 63.985 46 72
  • OBJECT_SIGN {@L}V2{@R}06-24 -22.592 63.985 46 72

Related content

External links