Have you ever wondered why there are differences in how runways are depicted in the various airport symbols on sectional charts? You probably know the blue and magenta colors differentiate between towered and non-towered airports, respectively. But why is there a distinction between airports with hard-surface runways greater than 8,069 feet in length and those that are 1,500 to 8,069 feet in length? What is so magic about those numbers?
It has everything to do with the chart scale and the available chart symbol sizes. Runways up to 8,069 feet long are enclosed in the familiar circular airport symbol. But, according to the FAA’s Aeronautical Information Services, if a runway is longer than 8,069 feet the representative line is too long to fit into the largest circular airport symbol available. Therefore, charting specialists outline the runway pattern, forming a polygon (enclosed shape) for anything over 8,069 feet in length. But beware; specialists also place these polygons around the runway pattern of airports with multiple runways that are less than 8,069 feet, in cases where the multiple runway pattern does not fit into the largest, circular airport symbol.
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