Airport Charts to Receive Uniform Shapes to Consistently Distinguish Danger Areas 

The FAA has announced the upcoming standardization of hotspot graphology on airport charts, effective on May 19, 2022. 

The changes will consolidate a series of shapes and forms used to call attention to trouble-prone regions in the airport environment, allowing for a simpler, more consistent terminology to eliminate confusion throughout the aeronautical ecosystem. 

Ground movement hot spots will be designated with a circle or ellipse around the point of concern, highlighting movement areas with a history of risk or potential for collision or runway incursion that demand heightened attention by pilots.

Circles/ellipses will be used for areas like hold short lines, approach holding areas, complex taxiway layouts, tower blind spots, and marking issues. 

The second shape, the cylinder, will be used for areas that could be used or confused for the wrong surface, often runways and taxiways that have seen inadvertent takeoffs or landings.

Rolling out alongside the new imagery will be the new Arrival Alert Notices, a format that provides a graphic visually depicting the approach to a particular airport with a history of misalignment issues. 

The change should be beneficial for operators accustomed to a hodgepodge of squares, rectangles, and circles, and shown in the FAA example provided.

The rollout for the changes will begin in the May 19, 2022 charting cycle. 

FMI: www.faa.gov