Enhancing Airport Surface Markings to Support Pilot Awareness About Runway Location

Enhancements to airport surface markings were developed to facilitate pilot awareness of the runway location and to increase the conspicuity of the holding position markings, see Olmos, Andrews, and Estes (2003). The marking enhancements were evaluated in a simulation and two field studies. In a simulation study, general aviation (GA) pilots as well as transport category pilots performed taxi operations using a cockpit simulator. The simulated airport surface included enhanced surface markings and the distance at which pilots detected the runway environment was measured under various conditions. The results indicate that marking enhancements were associated with an earlier detection of the runway in some but not in all conditions. Specifically, transport category pilots detected simple taxiway-runway intersections with enhanced markings earlier than with current markings. No such perceptual advantage was found for GA pilots or at complex intersections. Most pilots, however, subjectively preferred the marking enhancements over the current marking standard. These positive evaluations of enhanced markings were confirmed by two field demonstrations where two sets of enhanced markings were implemented at two US airports. Pilots perceived the benefits of the marking enhancements to depend on pilot experience, familiarity with the airport, aircraft type, and knowledge about the marking enhancements. For certain airport situations, the enhanced markings in the hold-short environment of runways can be expected to aid pilot awareness about the runway location.