Lesson B1 1:27 6 of 26
What an airport symbol tells you before you read its data block.
The video plays from YouTube. FAA San Francisco Sectional, effective 29 OCT 2026. Not for navigation.
An airport symbol tells you a lot before you read any data. Blue means the airport has a control tower. Magenta means it does not. A filled circle with a white bar means a hard-surfaced runway from 1,500 to 8,069 feet long. The bars show the real runway layout. Marina has one runway. Watsonville has two.
When a runway is longer than 8,069 feet, the chart draws the runways themselves. At San Jose, the longest runway is 11,000 feet. An open circle means the runway is not hard-surfaced. Frazier Lake has a turf runway. The anchor on its circle means it also has a water runway for seaplanes.
Tick marks around a circle mean fuel is available. The Chart Supplement lists which fuel. A star on top is a rotating beacon. It runs from sunset to sunrise. An R in a circle is a private airport. It is not open to the public, but the chart shows it as a landmark. Monterey Bay Academy is one.
An H in a circle is a heliport. Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz has one. A circle with an X is an abandoned airport. It is a landmark, not a place to land. Carmel Valley Vintage is one. Read the symbol first. Then read the data block next to it.
Before you fly, check the current chart, the Chart Supplement and NOTAMs.
A discovery flight is actual flight training with a certified flight instructor at the Salinas Airport. Your hands on the controls, with the chart on your knee.
