Southern Gentlemen

 

1. This one has been dumbed down for laymen, I assume.  Let me explain..

   The same runway can be used in both directions so an east west runway would be named 9 (for 90 degrees) when heading east but is named 27 (for 270 degrees) when headed west. Runways are always named with a difference of 18 between the two numbers, ie 05-23, 17-35 etc. When there are parallel runways they are named 9L (Left) and 9R (Right) with the reciprocals being 27R and 27L.

   So the controller in the joke should be clearing Iran Air to runway 27L which is 9R in the opposite direction. 

   Go to google maps satellite view of ‘San Francisco Airport’ and look at the numbers painted on the runways for a visual explanation.

   Posted by Al_in_Ottawa       09/20/2013  at  07:23 PM  



2. Thanks for that Al. Glad to see we still have a couple of flyboys left on this blog.

   And honestly ... that info was hiding in the back of my brain, from about half a million years ago.

   Still, pretty funny joke, even if not technically correct. Control tower could have put one in a standard landing pattern and the other in a reverse one, which would have forced them to nearly collide every revolution. But nobody other than a pilot would have understood it.

   Posted by Drew458       09/20/2013  at  08:25 PM  



3. I was going to make the same comment as Al_in_Ottowa, but he beat me to it.

   Think of a compass and reciprocal headings.

   Speaking of airports I’m headed off on Monday and will after a couple of days and a couple of flights be sequestered in North Carolina.

   Wish me luck and

   Good bye to Ireland for ever!

   Posted by New Jersey Yankee       09/21/2013  at  04:34 AM  



4. Glad you folks caught that, but it’s still funny!

   Now move them to Chicago and put them landing on crossing runways - with the typical Chicago hubris. That would be a hoot!

   Posted by jackal40       09/21/2013  at  07:12 AM  

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.