Are you legal to take off from here?

Sep 1, 2026

You've finished your runup and taxied onto runway 19. Are you legal to take off from here?

AYes, you are on the runway

It's a good guess. You're aligned with the runway, and why waste pavement? But notice the yellow paint. You're still on a taxiway. This is referred to as a taxiway aligned with a runway. It caused too much confusion, and the FAA no longer permits this for new airports, but there are still examples of them in the wild, as in this example at N07. The correct answer is C.

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BYes, you are on the displaced threshold

It was a good guess. But displaced thresholds are marked with white paint. The white bar and the white arrowheads are up ahead, past the yellow demarcation bar running across the pavement. The runway begins on the other side of it. The paint under you is yellow, so you're still on a taxiway. The correct answer is C.

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CNo, you are on the taxiway

Nicely done — you know your airport markings

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DNo, you are on the displaced threshold

You're not on the displaced threshold yet. That's still up ahead, past the yellow demarcation bar, marked with the white bar and white arrowheads. And you could take off from a displaced threshold anyway, you just can't land on one. The paint under you is yellow, so you're still on a taxiway. The correct answer is C.

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The explanation

C. No, you are on the taxiway

Read the paint

Runway markings are white. Taxiway markings are yellow. The pavement under the airplane in this video is marked in yellow, so you're still on a taxiway, even though it lines up with runway 19.

Where the runway starts

Up ahead, a yellow demarcation bar runs across the pavement. Past it are the white bar and white arrowheads that mark a displaced threshold. The runway begins on the far side of the demarcation bar.

Displaced thresholds

A displaced threshold is part of the runway. You can use it for takeoff, and for the landing rollout from the opposite direction, but you can't land on it. So even if you were on the displaced threshold, the answer would be different from "no". Here you haven't reached it yet.

Taxiways aligned with runways

A taxiway that lines up with the end of a runway invites exactly this mistake. It caused enough confusion that the FAA no longer allows the design at new airports, but there are still examples in the wild, like this one at Lincoln Park (N07).

References

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