Active Runway

Active Runway is the runway in use at a given time, determined by the tower or advisory service based on wind direction, weather, traffic flow, and operational requirements.

At controlled airports, ATC assigns the active runway. At uncontrolled airports, pilots self-select based on the wind indicator (windsock) or ATIS/AWOS information.

• Active runway may change with shifting winds
• Designated by magnetic heading rounded to the nearest ten degrees
• Parallel runways use L, C, R suffixes (e.g., 28L, 28R)
• Opposite direction has the reciprocal number (e.g., 28 and 10)