Boeing 737-800 (N916NN)

Two and one-half months from now, the runway designations at KRNO will officially change. The parallel runways 16R-34L and 16L-34R will become 17R-35L and 17L-35R, and runway 7-25 will become Runway 8-26.

Beautiful picture Gary and a good example of how to show an aircraft in a setting when it's worthwhile and not just a photo of a plane. Have to ask though...did the earth move? Lol.

Hi, Gavin. Magnetic north is not 100% stationary. It does, in fact, move. And since runway numbers are based on the compass headings (ie: Runway 7-25 is aligned with 70 degrees and 250 degrees on a compass; Runways 16L/R-34R/L are aligned with 160 and 340 degrees on a compass), after several decades have elapsed, the runway numbers are no longer "true" because magnetic north has moved. Thus, the runways no longer are aligned with compass headings 160-340 and 70-250. The runways have not moved, but magnetic north HAS, so Reno's runways now align with 170-350 degrees and 80-260 degrees. In September, the new numbers go into effect. When I was at Loring AFB in Maine many, many, many years ago, a similar correction had to be made to Loring's parallel runways. It only happens every few decades.

Awesome to see the Reno Air with the mountains in the background that are illustrated on the trail.

Thanks for that Gary. I knew about magnetic pole shifts but hadn't heard of or seen examples of runway heading alignment adjustments to cater for it. Ya never stop learning.

Excellent departure pic! 5**** so does "just" RNO shift or is it every airport? I forgot you were at Loring AFB in Maine. That was the base where a co-worker( now retired ) was 1950s era ATC while he was a young buck in the USAF. No names, but he is still alive, they had several overflights of UFOs in groups of 5-10 over a several week period running about 7-9000 miles per hour on Radar. The spooks showed up each recording, and they all were debriefed to keep silent and to not reveal what they had seen on the scope, and visually, and do not report to any news agency any UFO report.

I didn't comment in my post but did wonder exactly what Tom's asked. Because the headings are based on magnetic north then it would seem that every airport would change. Interesting.