Vanquishing the V/PD

3rd Quarter 2016 

A quarterly publication from the 

Safety Section 

Federal Aviation Administration Airports Division 

Western-Pacific Region 

This publication is directed primarily towards airport management to be disseminated to 

all levels of personnel working at your airfield. Vanquishing the V/PD can be 

accomplished through a solid partnership between the FAA and airport management. The 

responsibility of making sure that the proper safeguards are in place; however, lies 

squarely on the shoulders of airport management. Please use this information and all that 

follows as a guide by which to provide a safer environment at your airfield. 

Reducing the frequency of V/PDs at your airport may be as simple as providing airport 

diagrams to those who access the movement area at your airport. Providing these 

diagrams could be as simple as reproducing a published airport diagram from the Airport 

Facility Directory (AFD) or as complex as drafting a custom diagram containing 

additional information that the user might find useful. 

A good custom diagram should start with taxiways and runways that are color coded and 

plainly marked with their appropriate designations. Runways should include oversized 

and clearly marking taxiway/runway holding position markings. Any ILS critical areas 

should be marked as well. The print should be large enough to read in night conditions 

and under a dome light. Landmark buildings, hangars and terminals should be depicted 

and appropriately named. Radio frequencies should be prominently listed and kept 

current. Important information that must be readily accessible should also be available in

the form of inserts. Readily accessible information may include hours of tower operation, 

description of canned routes, or areas blown-up to reveal more detail such as gate 

numbers or one-way taxi routes. In short, the diagram must be simple, yet have as much 

pertinent information to facilitate safe airfield navigation. Keep in mind that the diagrams 
will be exposed to wear and weather so a plastic lamination is advised to extend the life 

of the diagram. 

When completed, the diagrams should be distributed to airfield operations personnel, 

aircraft rescue firefighting (ARFF) personnel, airport police, mobile fuelers, tenants, 

maintenance personnel who tug/ tow aircraft, and anyone else who operates a vehicle in 

the movement area. They should be a permanent fixture in all vehicles that operate in the 

movement area—attached by a chain and grommet if necessary. 

The back of the airport diagram is an ideal spot for reference information that should not 

clutter the front of the diagram, which is used primarily for navigation. This information 

might include ATIS frequencies, airline operated ramp tower frequencies, 

approach/departure frequencies, airport sign and marking keys, light gun signals, weather 

conditions that activate ILS critical areas, the phonetic alphabet or tips on avoiding 

runway incursions. 

If your airport is complicated and there are a large number of drivers on the airfield who 

are not authorized to drive in the movement area, a separate airport diagram could be 

developed for these non-movement area drivers. The map might show the locations of all 

the service roads in relation to the movement areas. Movement areas and non-movement 

areas could be color coded to draw attention to their extent. This simple diagram may be 

instrumental in keeping non-movement area drivers clear of the movement areas and off 

of runways. The diagram might show an example of a non-movement area marking or a 

runway holding position marking with explicit warnings not to cross either marking. 

If you teach driver training in the classroom or in a vehicle tell your students to orient the 

taxiway diagram to correspond with the direction they are traveling in the vehicle. In 

other words, if the vehicle is headed west, hold the west end of the diagram forward. This 

way, all of the runways and taxiways will be oriented properly to the direction of the 

vehicle. Having to read sideways or upside down is easier than trying to perform the 

mental gymnastics of spatially orienting yourself to the image on the diagram where 

north is always forward. Also encourage your students to use them and not keep them 

stowed in the glove box. 

The development and distribution of airport diagrams to airport drivers will help reduce 

the frequency of V/PDs and increase safety at your airport. 

Column written by: 

Steven Oetzell 

Lead Airport Certification Safety Inspector, AWP-620.6

Reproductions of this, past and subsequent issues of Vanquishing the VPD are available 

on FAAWebsite: 

http://www.faa.gov/airports/western_pacific/newsletter/