Taxiway signs
Taxiway signs are there to help the pilots find their way to the runways or gates. Every taxiway is identified by a letter. Like road signs, taxiway signs tell in which direction a taxiway or runway is. They are usually placed on the taxiways' sides right before crossings or turns. Signs are split into panels. Three types of panels are available:
- Destination (yellow): It tells the way to a taxiway. An arrow precedes or follows the taxiway's letter. Five type of arrows are available: Left, right, up, left up and right up.
- Runway instruction (red): It tells you the way to a runway. An arrow precedes or follows the runway's ID number. Five type of arrows are available: Left, right, up, left up and right up.
- Taxiway location (black): It tells you on which taxiway you currently are. No arrows are available since the sign doesn't give any 'instructions'.
The example above will help you understand set a the panels' caption. One runway (RWY 18) and three taxiways are shown here. Look at the lower sign: It is placed on the side of taxiway B right before the turn to taxiway T2. It can only be seen from taxiway B (when moving North). The first panel tells the pilot to turn left in order to get on taxiway T2, the second simply says 'you are on taxiway B', the last tells you to go straight ahead in order to reach the end of runway 18.
Setting sign properties
In order to access the settings dialog, make sure only one sign is selected. Double-click anywhere on the map to open the dialog. You can also access the settings through the SELECTION\ PROPERTIES... menu item or by left-clicking the macro handle.
Enter a heading (true, not magnetic) to rotate the sign. The caption will be on the side that points away from the heading you enter here.
- Flat: The sign does not have any 'thickness'. There are gaps between the panels and two feet for every panel.
- Flat - lighted: Same as FLAT but panels are lighted at night.
You can set up to 5 panels. Select the panel type by checking one of the options. To set a panel's caption click the boxes beneath PANEL CAPTION (CLICK). A character selection palette will be shown.
Click any of the available characters. In order to remove a character click the REMOVE button.
Note: GroundMaker will not 'remember' gaps (e.g. an empty panel between two panels with captions or a gap between two characters).
The signs require two textures: GRM_SIGN1.BMP (day) and GRM_SIGN1_LM.BMP (night). They are included in the GroundMaker Texture Set.
You can set a custom sign texture in the project settings (EXTRA FEATURES tab). This texture will be used for ALL signs in the project file. Sign textures must be formatted in a special way.