Runway and Taxiway Markings

Color is the fastest way to tell surfaces apart: runway markings are white and taxiway markings are yellow. The runway number is its magnetic heading to the nearest ten degrees with the trailing zero dropped, so runway 27 lies on about a 270-degree heading. The threshold stripes show where the usable landing surface begins, the two broad aiming-point rectangles about a thousand feet in give you a visual touchdown target, and the touchdown-zone stripes are coded by distance. On taxiways, a single continuous yellow centerline is what you keep under the nose. The most important marking of all is the runway holding position marking: two solid and two dashed yellow lines. You hold short on the solid side and cross onto the runway only when cleared; approaching from the dashed side means you are leaving the runway.