Chapter 2
regulating both air and ground movement of aircraft. Planners can assist this effort by providing
the controllers line-of-site observation to all critical aircraft operational areas and making
allowances for aircraft spacing and clearances in turbulence prone areas. Additional information
on this subject is available in FAA AC 90-230, Wake Turbulence.
2.6. Airside and Landside Facilities. An aviation facility consists of four land use areas. They are:
2.6.1. Airside Facilities:
2.6.1.1. Landing and take-off area.
2.6.1.2. Aircraft ground movement and parking areas.
2.6.2. Landside Facilities:
2.6.2.1. Aircraft maintenance areas.
2.6.2.2. Aviation operations support areas.
2.7. Landing and Takeoff Area:
2.7.1. Runways and Helipads. Take-off and landing areas are based on either a runway or helipad.
The landing/take-off area consists not only of the runway and helipad surface, shoulders, and
overruns, but also approach slope surfaces, safety clearances and other imaginary airspace surfaces.
2.7.2. Number of Runways. Aviation facilities normally have only one runway. Additional
runways may be necessary to accommodate operational demands, minimize adverse wind conditions
or overcome environmental impacts. A parallel runway may be provided based on operational
requirements. Methodologies for calculating runway capacity in terms of annual service volume
(ASV) and hourly instrument flight rules (IFR) or visual flight rules (VFR) capacity are provided in
FAA AC 150/5060-5, Airport Capacity and Delay. Planning efforts to analyze the need for more
than one runway should be initiated when it is determined that traffic demand for the primary
runway will reach 60 percent of its established capacity (FAA guidance).
2.7.3. Number of Helipads. The number of helipads authorized is discussed in Attachment 3. At
times there are situations at airfields or heliports when a large number of helicopters are parked on
mass aprons or are in the process of take-off and landing. When this occurs, there is usually a
requirement to provide landing and take-off facilities that permit more rapid launch and recovery
operations than can otherwise be provided by a single runway or helipad. This increased efficiency
can be obtained by providing one or more of the following, but is not necessarily limited to:
2.7.3.1. Multiple helipads, hoverpoints, or runways.
2.7.3.2. Rotary-wing runways in excess of 240 meters (800 feet) long.
2.7.3.3. Landing lane(s).
2.7.4. Runway Location. Runway location and orientation are paramount to airport safety,
efficiency, economics, practicality, and environmental impact. The degree of concern given to each
factor influencing runway location depends greatly on meteorological conditions, adjacent land use
and land availability, airspace availability, runway type/instrumentation, environmental factors,
terrain features/topography, and obstructions to air navigation.
2.7.4.1. Obstructions to Air Navigation. The runway must have approaches which are free and
clear of obstructions. Runways must be planned so that the ultimate development of the airport
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