I’m designing an airport with grass runways and taxiways for XP but I have some trouble discerning where the taxiways are. Looking at the satellite image, looks like the whole wide green areas next to the runways would be taxiways (plus the narrow ones to the left of 01/19, to the right of 18/36 and the angled one at the bottom)? But wouldn’t there be some safety zone between the runway and the parallel taxiway with just a couple of access taxiways and signs saying to hold short? I’m not sure how it works at such airports. Can the aircraft leave the runway at any spot? I’ve been searching for official rules but can’t find anything useful. Perhaps I just can’t think of the right search words.
It’s probably better to ask this on the xplane.org forum. There’s a surprisingly high chance that somebody there will have personal knowledge of the airfield or be able to point to resources to help.
Hi David, thanks for the reply. As a person who flies exclusively on VATSIM, my first thought was to ask here. Moreover, my question is not so much about the X-plane design as about real world rules, and then I’d design the sim airport accordingly, and I know there are real world pilots here. Meanwhile, I’ve found two airports in the Netherlands where the whole airport area was made grass taxi surface, so I guess it’s possible in real world that the aircraft taxi anywhere on the airport without using specific taxiways, including on the approach path and in close vicinity of the runways and there are no signs at all (not sure if it’s common or the case with the particular airport). But yeah, probably a more appropriate question for the X-plane forum anyway.
The real-world grass strips I’ve flown to haven’t had designated taxiways. Typically the runway is marked by cones or some kind of markers and aircraft exit wherever they feel safe to do so. The areas adjacent to the runway are mowed but not always given the same level of meticulous attention that the runway area is.
Hi Dustin, thanks for the information. Are there any signs there?
Not that I remember. Definitely not for taxi areas, and pretty certain there were no signs for the runway.
Edited to add: The only time I see signage for grass strips is at public use airports where there is a parallel or an intersecting turf runway. The signage is more for the paved surface users to draw attention to where the turf intersects with the pavement.