Skypark Runway is now 8/26 - Why The Change???

As many of us had long noted while pointed down our runway, there was a pretty good discrepancy between our original runway numbers or 07/25 and what our magnetic compasses were telling us.

During the routine annual inspections of our airport conducted by California DOT Aeronautics Division, the inspector took note of this discrepancy.  For Runway 07, his reference compass read 77°, and his official report is suggested that we update our runway designations at the next painting, which we did (but see OOPs!, below).

For those a little rusty on this stuff (hey, that test was a long time ago, right?), runway designations are based on magnetic heading, rounded to the nearest 10°.  And magnetic compass readings differ from true heading by some variable amount depending upon your geographical position relative to the 'Magnetic North Pole', currently located approximately 82.2 N 115 W, which is in the Arctic Ocean west of Ellesmere Island in Canada.

This would be no problem were it not for the fact that the north magnetic pole won't stay put.  Over our lifetimes it has been gradually drifting westward, causing our magnetic declination here on the west coast to decrease bit by bit as years pass (a compass here in SoCal will gradually read closer to true).  Currently, this drift (about 25 miles per year) causes a change in declination at our location of about 0° 5' per year, or a full degree every 12 years. 

To be exact, our current declination, according to NOAA, calculates to 12° 54'. This means our runway 07, which is laid at 90° true, is now at approximately 77° 40' magnetic.  This pretty well matches the CALDOT inspector's 77° reading.

So that's the story. No one likes change, but we can deal with it.  I started commuting into Burbank when the ILS runway was 07, it moved to 08 about 1989 I think, and although it took a while to remember the new "name", it finally sank in.  In any case we now officially match the other nearby E-W runways at Mojave & Ancient Valley, among others, so you now only have to remember one set of headings!

            John Wilson

OOPS:  Being amateurs at this we belatedly discovered we had overstepped ourselves by unilaterally changing the runway designators.  It seems this should have come to us from the FAA, not the other way around, and not from CALTRANS either.  Thankfully there are some very nice, not to mention understanding, people at the FAA and all is now correct & recorded.
 

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Website last modified: 07/28/2010