Stansted Airport changes the name of its runway

Published: 2:18 PM July 6, 2009 Updated: 6:41 PM November 1, 2020

THE operators of Stansted Airport have been forced to change the name of their existing runway due to the fact that the Earth has moved.Small changes in the position of the globes magnetic field has meant the Essex airport s runway, previously known as 2

THE operators of Stansted Airport have been forced to change the name of their existing runway due to the fact that the Earth has moved.

Small changes in the position of the globes magnetic field has meant the Essex airport's runway, previously known as 23/05 because of its location and compass heading, has become 22/04.

Trevor Waldock, the airport's head of airside operations, said: "We have had to make this change due to the Magnetic North Pole slowly drifting across the Earth's surface, but our runway remains in a fixed position. It'll roughly be another 56 years before we have to consider changing it again."

The project, which took place at night, was completed last weekend and included the replacement of all airfield signage and the repainting of the huge numbers at each end of the runway. The renumbering is in name alone and will not have any impact on flight paths.

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The Magnetic Pole will continue to drift until it eventually switches with the Magnetic South Pole. The Earth last went through this an estimated 780,000 years ago. With time, due to the Magnetic North Pole moving south, the Northern lights will become visible to the UK.

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