GAWZU From United Kingdom, joined May 2002, 235 posts, RR: 1 Reply 5, posted (7 years 7 months 2 weeks 4 days 9 hours ago) and read 1352 times:
Interesting news... 04/22 sounds even worse for photography than 05/23!
Quoting IanatSTN (Reply 4): Thanks for the info Noel, does anyone know how long STN has been 05/23 and if it was ever designated anything else?
Ian, as far as I'm aware the main runway at STN has never been anything other than 05/23. The two other wartime runways were 12/30 and 18/36 but these are obviously long, long gone! That said, the remainder of 12/30 forms the main taxiway into the stands on the northside. And a chunk of 18/36 still exists where it intersected the northerly end of 12/30 over at the northside.
Boysteve From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2004, 873 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (7 years 7 months 2 weeks 4 days 8 hours ago) and read 1278 times:
Quoting BHXFAOTIPYYC (Reply 6): I never knew this... but how does it change? North is still north, and everything else is still in it's relative position
It is a little confusing, if you followed magnetic north on a compass you wouldn't actually end up at the north pole, just somewhere nearby, and where you end up would change over time, but only slightly.
What may of happened recently is that Earth's magnetic field has moved by half of 1 degree but if that turns a runway heading from 244.5 degrees to 245.0 degrees then it will redesignate its runway from 24 to 25. Obviously this will only affect very few airports as a change from, say 240.5 to 241.0 degrees will not change the designation 24.
What is even more alarming is every so many hundred thousand years or so the magnetic poles flip over, meaning a compass would point South!
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