The runway is the most important part of the airfield. This is a specially equipped earth's surface, allowing for takeoffs and landings of all kinds of aircraft.
Each runway (hereinafter runway) has a specific magnetic course (MK). The MK value is rounded and divided by ten. For example, the magnetic course of an airport located in Tolmachevo is 72 °, so the runway in this case will be designated as runway-07. However, this is only half the designation. Any runway simultaneously has two directions (in both directions). Therefore, the value of the opposite course will be equal to 252 °. We get the full airport designation: Runway 07/25.
Some airports build several runways (mainly in large cities). Often they are placed in parallel (for convenience and safety at the same time). Then, letters are added to the numerical designation: L, C, R (the initial letters of the English words are "left", "center", "right"). For example, the fairly large Midway Airport has three runways, the course of which is 133 ° / 313 °. Each runway at the mentioned airport has its own name: either runway 13R / 31L, or runway 13L / 31R, or runway 13C / 31C.
Different airports take different planes. Therefore, the coatings of the bands are also different. They can be concrete, asphalt, gravel and soil.
Runway sizes also differ. They again depend on the level of the airport and the aircraft it receives. The smallest runways (300 m long and 10 m wide) are mainly used for sports (small) aviation. However, there are solid airports known to the world whose runway does not exceed these sizes too much. By the way, they are listed in the top ten most dangerous airports (of all existing).
These include Tenzing Airport. The runway huddles in the "gates" of Everest. It runs along the slope of the mountain and has a duration of 475 m. For landing, the pilot has only one attempt, since the surrounding terrain does not make it possible to make a second circle.
If the plane suddenly goes down, even an experienced pilot will not be able to stop it, and if the landing gear does not come off on time, the car will rush into the abyss, and passengers will have to rely only on a miracle.
The largest runways (their length is up to 5000 m, and their width is up to 80 m) are built at the territory of aircraft plants and at international airports.
The longest runway belongs to Edwards Air Force Base. The place for laying it was the bottom of a dried lake in California. The length of the concrete pavement extends to 4572 m, the total length is 11,917 m, and the width of the runway is 297 m.
In Russia, the longest runway was opened in May 2013 in Akhtubinsk (flight test center GLITs). The first take-off from it was made by military bombers. The take-off, with a length of 4 km and a width of 60 m, is planned to be used for take-off and landing of aircraft of all modifications and dimensions, and under any weather conditions. The runway cover itself is comparable to an eight-layer cake 1.8 m thick. This strip is a strategic object of the Air Force. In the near future, the latest aircraft will be tested here.