Aerodromes (ICAO Annex 14): visual aids and aerodrome operations

Coverage note

The learning objectives for 010.10 span definitions, aerodrome data, the full suite of visual aids (markings, lights, signs, markers, obstacle and restricted-area aids), and emergency services including RFFS categories and apron management. The majority of that technical content — runway and taxiway marking specifications, light colour and intensity standards, sign dimensions, PAPI geometry, RFFS response categories, apron management authority — derives from ICAO Annex 14 and its implementing standards. That body of material is not covered by the EU operational corpus (SERA/AMC/GM); it is ICAO-framework material and must be taught from Annex 14 directly.

What SERA does regulate, from the PPL student's perspective, is how aircraft and vehicles behave on and around aerodromes. Those rules follow.

Surface movement right-of-way on the manoeuvring area

Three situations are defined for taxiing aircraft encountering one another SERA.3210@2025-05-01:

• Head-on: each shall stop or, where practicable, alter course to the right so as to keep well clear.
• Converging: the aircraft that has the other on its right shall give way.
• Overtaking: the aircraft being overtaken has the right-of-way; the overtaking aircraft shall keep well clear.

These ground rules are deliberately consistent with the airborne right-of-way hierarchy.

Stop bars and runway-holding positions

At a controlled aerodrome, an aircraft taxiing on the manoeuvring area shall stop and hold at all runway-holding positions unless an explicit clearance to enter or cross the runway has been issued by the aerodrome control tower SERA.3210@2025-05-01. Separately, an aircraft shall stop and hold at all lighted stop bars and may proceed further, subject to the runway-holding clearance requirement, when those lights are switched off SERA.3210@2025-05-01. A lit stop bar is therefore an absolute barrier — it cannot be crossed under any circumstances until the lights are extinguished.

When a stop bar cannot be deactivated due to a technical fault, the following contingency measures may, among others, be considered: physically disconnecting the bar from its power supply, physically obscuring the lights, or using a different route until the fault is repaired GM1 SERA.3210@2026-07-18. Where the bar is disconnected from its power supply or its lights are physically obscured, a marshaller or follow-me vehicle may be needed to lead the aircraft across GM1 SERA.3210@2026-07-18. Where obscuring is used, care should be exercised to ensure correct implementation and avoid misunderstandings by the flight crew GM1 SERA.3210@2026-07-18. The underlying principle — that a lit stop bar must not be crossed — remains in force throughout all contingency arrangements GM1 SERA.3210@2026-07-18.

Low-visibility operations

When low-visibility procedures (LVP) are in operation, persons and vehicles on the manoeuvring area shall be restricted to the essential minimum, with particular regard given to protecting the critical and sensitive areas of radio navigation aids SERA.3210@2025-05-01. Where mixed ILS and MLS Category II or Category III precision instrument operations are conducted continuously to the same runway, the more restrictive ILS or MLS critical and sensitive areas shall be protected SERA.3210@2025-05-01.

Vehicles on the manoeuvring area

The priority hierarchy under normal conditions SERA.3210@2025-05-01:

1. Vehicles (and vehicles towing aircraft) give way to aircraft that are landing, taking off, or taxiing.
2. Vehicles give way to other vehicles towing aircraft.
3. Vehicles give way to other vehicles in accordance with ATC instructions.
4. All of the above are superseded by explicit instructions from the aerodrome control tower.

Exception — emergency vehicles: vehicles proceeding to the assistance of an aircraft in distress are afforded priority over all other surface movement traffic SERA.3210@2025-05-01. No other rule in the hierarchy overrides this.

Traffic pattern and circuit direction

An aircraft operated on or in the vicinity of an aerodrome shall observe other aerodrome traffic for collision avoidance, and shall conform with or avoid the traffic pattern formed by other aircraft in operation SERA.3225@2025-05-01. Except for balloons, all turns when approaching to land and after take-off shall be to the left, unless otherwise indicated or instructed by ATC SERA.3225@2025-05-01. Except for balloons, landing and take-off shall be made into wind unless safety, the runway configuration, or air traffic considerations determine that a different direction is preferable SERA.3225@2025-05-01.

This block connects to your school's own Operations Manual (OM-A/B/C/D). In the full product it shows, cited to your manual, how YOUR organisation implements the regulation above — private to your school. (Demo placeholder.)

The case below is labeled illustrative context only, not regulation.

CASE-1 In June 2026 a parachuting school aircraft crashed near Nancy, north-eastern France, killing all 11 on board — five pairs of student skydivers and instructors, plus the pilot CASE-1. Operations at parachuting aerodromes create a particularly complex traffic environment: jump aircraft flying repeated circuit patterns, parachutists descending through the approach path, and ground vehicles operating between lifts. The incident is a reminder that the surface movement rules, circuit discipline, and ATC coordination covered by SERA apply across all aerodrome activity, not just scheduled transport. Conforming to the traffic pattern and maintaining positive separation of operations are not optional safety layers — they are the operational baseline.