How to Read an Airport Layout Plan (ALP)

The set, not the sheet

People say “the ALP” and often mean the single signature drawing — the Airport Layout Drawing. But the approved ALP is a coordinated drawing set, and the FAA review covers the whole package. The exact sheet list varies with airport complexity, but a typical set runs in a predictable order. Knowing the order is half of reading it: each sheet builds on the one before.

Start with the title block and legend

Before reading any geometry, read the title block and the legend. The title block carries the drawing date and revision number — the single most important fact when someone hands you a sheet, because an out-of-date ALP is the most common reason a review goes sideways. The legend tells you the existing-vs.-future convention: nearly every ALP distinguishes what exists today (solid linework) from what is planned (a different line type or screen). Read a future runway as existing and the whole sheet misleads you.

Confirm the approval status too. An ALP carries FAA and sponsor signature blocks; an unsigned or “for review” print is a draft, not an approved plan, and the distinction matters for any decision that relies on it.

The Airport Layout Drawing (ALD)

The ALD is the plan-view heart of the set. Read it in layers:

• Runways — designation (the magnetic-heading numbers), length and width, and end coordinates. Displaced thresholds and stopways/clearways show here and feed the declared distances.
• Safety areas — the Runway Safety Area (RSA), Runway Object Free Area (ROFA), and Obstacle Free Zone (OFZ) are drawn around each runway. Their dimensions are dictated by the runway’s design code, not chosen freely.
• Taxiways and aprons — the movement geometry, separation distances, and pavement edges.
• Runway Protection Zones (RPZ) — the trapezoids off each runway end, often extending beyond the property line.
• The Airport Reference Point (ARP) and wind rose, which fix the airport in space and orientation.

The discipline when reading the ALD is to keep asking “existing or future?” for every line. A planned parallel taxiway, an extended runway, or a relocated threshold are all drawn on the same sheet as today’s facilities, separated only by line convention.

The data sheets are the basis of design

The Airport Data Sheet is where the numbers live, and it is the sheet planners spend the most time in. It carries the runway data table, the declared-distance table (TORA, TODA, ASDA, LDA for each runway end), and the design-standard table that ties each runway to its Runway Design Code (RDC) — Aircraft Approach Category, Airplane Design Group, and approach visibility. Everything dimensional on the ALD should trace back to a code on this sheet. If a safety-area width on the ALD does not match the standard for the RDC on the data sheet, that is a flag, not a rounding difference.

The airspace and approach sheets

The Airport Airspace Drawing shows the 14 CFR Part 77 imaginary surfaces — primary, approach, transitional, horizontal, and conical — draped over the airport and its surroundings. The Inner Approach (and departure) sheets zoom in on the approach surface in plan and profile, plotting known obstacles against the surface. Reading these sheets, you are looking for penetrations: anything sticking up through a surface. A penetration is not automatically a problem, but it is always something that should be identified, dispositioned, and explained, not left silent on the drawing.

Land use and Exhibit ‘A’

The On-Airport Land Use Drawing records how each piece of airport property is used or reserved — aeronautical, non-aeronautical, or future reserve. It matters because federally obligated land carries revenue-use and aeronautical-use obligations, and the drawing is the record of intent.

The Property Map, paired with the Exhibit ‘A’ property inventory, shows the airport boundary, each parcel, the interest the sponsor holds, and how it was acquired (purchase, grant, transfer). When a project touches the boundary — an RPZ extending off-airport, a parcel acquisition, a release — this is the sheet that governs.

A reading order that works

1. Title block — date, revision, approval status, legend convention.
2. Data sheet — establish each runway’s RDC and declared distances first, so the geometry has a basis.
3. ALD — read runways, safety areas, taxiways, and RPZs, checking each against the data sheet and the existing/future convention.
4. Airspace and approach — look for penetrations and how they are dispositioned.
5. Land use and Exhibit ‘A’ — confirm property and use for anything near the boundary.

Read in that order, the ALP stops being a wall of linework and becomes a chain of answers: what is the airport designed for, what does it look like, does the airspace work, and who owns the ground it sits on.

This article is a reference summary for planning use, not a substitute for the governing FAA text. Citations refer to ARP SOP 2.00 (FAA Review and Approval of Airport Layout Plans), ARP SOP 3.00 (Exhibit ‘A’), AC 150/5070-6B (Airport Master Plans), AC 150/5300-13B Change 1 (Airport Design), and FAA Order 5100.38 (AIP Handbook). Always verify ALP content against the current governing documents and coordinate with your FAA Airports District Office before relying on a planning product. See the full airport planning glossary or the AvPlot toolkit.