Guarulhos Airport will change the directions of its runways

O Guarulhos international airport, in the metropolitan area of ​​São Paulo, is the main entrance for engers in Brazil, and is also the largest in Brazil in of movement of aircraft and people. Since its inauguration, runways 09/27R and 09/27L have served aircraft traffic.

However, the DECEA communicated that from September 08, 2022, the two lanes will have their directions changed, from 09/27 to 10/28. This alters the landing procedure used by pilots of aircraft operating at the site. Charts will need updates, and even digital navigation systems will be modified.

Pilots and flight controllers will need extra attention in operations, as many have become accustomed to quoting headboards 09 and 27 in the phone calls. Therefore, in the days following the modification there are chances of some occasions of errors by the crew.

But due to the complexity of the subject, we will explain it in more detail in the topics below.

 

What does the number at the end of a runway indicate?

If you've ever looked at an airport's runway, you must have understood that some have similar markings, such as the number on the headboard.

Basically, this numbering indicates the magnetic bearing (on the com), which is the direction of that end of the runway. That is, if you are taking off or landing at runway 27, this indicates that on the com you should be on the magnetic heading 270º.

Likewise, at runway 09, your landing approach should be aligned with the magnetic heading 090º, or something close to that direction.

Other airports, such as in Congonhas, the headlands are in another direction on the com, in this case in the directions 170º and 350º. The reason why an airport located a few kilometers from Guarulhos has a different direction of its runways is due to the prevailing wind.

Usually during the construction project of an airport, the runway directions are established according to obstacles or the prevailing wind at the site. For this reason there are similarities, or differences, between airports throughout Brazil and the world. 

 

Why did DECEA change the direction of the runways at Guarulhos Airport?

DECEA already expected to change the orientation of the runways at Guarulhos Airport, and due to the same phenomenon, we expect that several airports in Brazil will undergo changes in the coming years.

The change in the true magnetic north is largely responsible for this change. One BBC 2020 reportage warned of a slow but steady magnetic North Pole shift from Canada to Russia. 

“This is why the North Pole left its historic position over the Canadian Arctic and crossed the International Date Line. Northern Russia is winning the tug of war.”, said Phil Livermore of the University of Leeds in England. It is thought that the Earth's magnetic poles are heading towards a reversal in the near future.

The displacement is causing changes in the numbering of the airport runways, and because the direction is approaching 100º and 280º at Guarulhos Airport, DECEA decided to change it.

In addition to changing our lives, so dependent on GPS and comes today, scientists are also studying whether this phenomenon can weaken the protection provided by the magnetic field for the Earth. A study points out that the extinction of the Neanderthals, 44 years ago, had as one of the pillars the inversion of the magnetic poles.