Simviation Forums

For as long as I can remember (over 50 years) the main runway at my local airport has been 03/21 - even when it was all grass & before the hard runway was built (in the 1980s I believe). They have recently renumbered it to 02/20. The runway itself hasn't been moved but I've been told this is due to a shift in the Earth's axis. 10 degrees seems a lot even over 50 years or so.

Now, I'm wondering if this means that 1,000s of runways all over the world will also be changed.

It's actually pretty common here in the states. I have been told that change in true North, as you stated, does occur and is ONE reason for this.
Another factor is complexity of the airport environment.
Last year, a new East/West runway was opened at KMIA. It's number is 8-26, while all of the other runways are 9-27. I've landed there many times and can tell you that they look pretty well lined up with each other!
LOL
As I was typing this, I loaded up my EFB, to look at Miami info to find LOC course numbers to further the point and was shocked to see that runway 9L has recently been changed to 8R. So there you have it!

At any rate, the runways are NOW numbered 8L, 8R, and 9, with their localizer courses being 092*,092* and 092*, respectively .

Thanks OTTOL. This is first time I've even thought about it. I suppose it's easy enough to realign a grass runway to suit. All you need is to set the appropriate course on the mower.

at Schiphol the following happened:

they had two parallel runways, 19-01 L&R (as you can find in FS9).
in 2003 a new runway opened at Schiphol, also parallel with the two existing runways. for some reason, they changed the designation into 36-18 L&C&R. why? i have no idea.  ;)

[quote]at Schiphol the following happened:

they had two parallel runways, 19-01 L&R (as you can find in FS9).
in 2003 a new runway opened at Schiphol, also parallel with the two existing runways. for some reason, they changed the designation into 36-18 L&C&R. why? i have no idea.

Thanks OTTOL. This is first time I've even thought about it. I suppose it's easy enough to realign a grass runway to suit. All you need is to set the appropriate course on the mower.

Microsoft had the copyright on 19-01 L&R and sued Schipol to have them change it?

Wouldn't surprise me

Carl out.....

It's quite a regular occurence (relatively). I believe RAF Manston's huge runway was 09-27 but then changed to 08-26. However if you think that this is rounded to the nearest 5 degres then it only need a shift of a couple of degrees to change the designation...

Charlie