Military Airfields / Obstructions
Obstructions
Geodesic imaginary-surface analysis behind every obstruction evaluation.
The problem
An obstruction question has five surfaces behind it, not one
A crane, a new antenna, a stack of equipment near the runway: the question is never just how tall it is. It's whether it penetrates the approach surface, the transitional surface, the horizontal surface, or any of the others UFC 3-260-01 defines for that runway, and by how much. Working that out by hand means redoing the same geometry for every runway at the field, every time something new goes up.
Get an answer, and there's still the NOTAM to write: the distance and bearing from the nearest threshold, in the format a NOTAM actually needs.
How it works
Pin it, evaluate it, get every runway's answer at once
- 01
Drop a pin, or use your GPS
Click the object's location on a satellite map of the airfield, or stand at it and use your device's GPS, then enter its height above ground.
- 02
Every runway's imaginary surfaces, checked at once
Glidepath pulls ground elevation automatically and runs the object against every runway's approach, transitional, horizontal, conical, and clearance surfaces using geodesic math from your surveyed coordinates, not flattened, rounded approximations.
- 03
A clear result, surface by surface
Each surface reports clear, marginal, or penetrating, with the exact margin in feet. The answer is which surfaces are actually in play, not just a single pass or fail.
- 04
The NOTAM reference is already written
Distance and bearing from the nearest runway threshold generate in NOTAM-ready format the moment the evaluation completes, alongside a PDF you can save or email.
Built on the regulation
The citation, implemented
- UFC 3-260-01, Ch. 3
Every surface Glidepath evaluates against (approach, transitional, horizontal, conical, and the rest) is defined in this chapter; the geodesic math is the calculation an evaluator otherwise runs by hand, runway by runway.
The benefit
What it automates
Every runway evaluated at once, not one at a time
One object, one evaluation: Glidepath checks it against every runway's surfaces in the same pass instead of redoing the geometry runway by runway.
Real surveyed geometry, not a flat-earth guess
Distances and surface boundaries are computed with geodesic math from your airfield's actual surveyed coordinates, so a result at the edge of a surface is trustworthy, not a rounding-error coin flip.
The NOTAM text is a byproduct, not a second task
Distance and bearing from the nearest threshold come out already formatted for the NOTAM. Nobody measures it again to write the notice.
Related
Works alongside
FAQ
Straight answers
Which surfaces does an evaluation check?
Every imaginary surface UFC 3-260-01 defines for the runway (approach/departure, transitional, inner horizontal, conical, and outer horizontal), checked in the same pass, not one at a time.
How accurate is the geometry?
Evaluations use geodesic math against your airfield's actual surveyed runway coordinates, not rounded headings or flattened distances, the same standard the regulation expects.
Does it tell me what to do if an object penetrates a surface?
It reports which surface, and by how much. A penetration is guidance to start a waiver request through your normal channel, not an automatic one.
Can I get a NOTAM out of this?
Yes. The distance and bearing from the nearest runway threshold generate in NOTAM-ready format as part of the evaluation, alongside a PDF you can save or email.