Eleanor Riley, Charles Robinson and I are standing in Robinson’s driveway as traffic zips by on its way from Portage to Kalamazoo.
Robinson's old farmhouse sits behind a tall wooden privacy fence on Lovers Lane just off East Milham Avenue. In the garden that borders the driveway is a low sign, about the size of an extra-large cooler. White numbers, 9-27, pop on the bright red background.
“I used to drive down this road all the time and I noticed the runway light. And I was like, well, that's cool if that's their address, that they have a runway light. That's cool. And then I realized, it's not the address," said Why's That? question-asker Eleanor Riley.
"So, why do you have a runway light?"
"Well, it's a runway sign," Robinson said, adding that the sign does light up at night.
Points on a compass
Before Robinson met with Eleanor and me in his driveway, I went to the Kalamazoo-Battle Creek International Airport to learn more about runway signs.
Anton Bjorkman is in charge of operations and maintenance at AZO. He ensures that all runway signs, lights and markings meet the standards required by the Federal Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The signs are the same at airports around the world.
Bjorkman took me outside for a better look at the runways.
Student pilots were practicing, with flight instructors, a maneuver called “touch and go." That is when the plane briefly touches down before taking off again in quick succession to practice takeoffs and landings.
Bjorkman said runway signs are low to the ground to make sure aircraft wings clear them.
Like a traffic light at a 4-way intersection, Bjorkman said Robinson’s marker is a mandatory instruction sign that gives pilots specific instructions.
“Because it's a red sign with white lettering, that is a mandatory instruction sign. That means 'stop. Do not proceed without permission from air traffic control,'” Bjorkman said.
What do the numbers mean? They tell the pilot the direction of the runway.
Think of a compass. Airport runways are numbered according to compass bearings: 360 degrees is north, 90 degrees is east, 180 degrees south, and 270, west.
In aviation, the last degree number is omitted, so runways are numbered between one and 36.
The sign on Robinson’s driveway sign says 9-27. The 9 is for 90 degrees, or east. The number 27 on the sign is for 270 degrees, or west.
Robinson’s sign is for an east-west runway.
A properly-placed sign
Bjorkman said he’s seen the sign on Robinson’s driveway, which is not too far from the airport.
“The first thing I did after I first realized that sign was out there on Lovers Lane was check the directional heading on it and I said, ‘well, yep, that's correct.’”
Robinson’s runway sign correctly identifies his east-west driveway.
“And nobody's going to mistakenly see a runway hold-position sign in a driveway and think, ‘Oh, there's the runway I'm looking for’ from the sky, you know,” said Bjorkman with a chuckle.
Back at Robinson’s house on Lover’s Lane, our "Why’s That?" question asker, Eleanor Riley, learned that Robinson knew exactly what he was doing when he installed the runway marker about 10 years ago.
He’s a private flight instructor at AZO. And that’s where he got it.
“At the Kalamazoo-Battle Creek International Airport, they had some that they had thrown away. I asked if I could have one. And eventually they said I could and there it is,” Robinson said.
He added that the sign is fun, even if it doesn’t match his house number.
Eleanor's question is one Robinson said the family hears all the time.
“When my wife's out here working in the yard people stop by and go, ‘What is that?’"
