What are combined signs?
Where you are and where each turn leads, in one assembly. A black-and-yellow location panel flanked by yellow direction panels, read left to right the way the arrows point.
A combined sign is not a new sign type. It is a location sign and direction signs placed together, so the two questions a pilot has at an intersection, which taxiway am I on and which way is the other one, are answered in a single glance and in a fixed order.
1Two panel types, side by side
Each panel keeps its own look. Direction panels are black on yellow with an arrow, as in Entry 3. The location panel is yellow on black with no arrow, and a yellow border where it stands alone, as in Entry 5. Keeping the colours different is what stops a pilot taking the location panel for an instruction to turn.
2The order follows the arrows
Panels with left arrows go on the left, panels with right arrows on the right, and the location panel sits between them. The sign then reads like the intersection itself: the left turn on your left, the right turn on your right, and your own taxiway in the middle. Where a junction has only one intersecting taxiway, ICAO Annex 14 lets the location sign go on the left-hand side instead.
3Why it is one assembly
A black divider separates the panels so each stays readable on its own. Mounted together at the intersection, the panels cannot be out of order or hidden by one another, so the pilot gets the position and the choices at one point before the turn.
| Element | Rule |
|---|---|
| Make-up | A location sign plus one or more direction signs, mounted as one assembly |
| Direction panels | Black inscription on yellow, with an arrow toward the taxiway |
| Location panel | Yellow inscription on black, no arrow; yellow border where it stands alone |
| Order | Left-pointing panels on the left, right-pointing on the right, location panel between (or on the left where one taxiway intersects) |
| Separation | Black divider between panels |
| Placed | At the taxiway intersection, before the turn, normally on the left side of the taxiway |
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1What is a combined sign?
A location sign and one or more direction signs mounted together as a single assembly, so one glance shows both the taxiway you are on and where each turn leads.
Q2How are the panels ordered in a combined sign?
Direction signs with left arrows sit on the left, direction signs with right arrows on the right, and the location sign goes between them. With only one intersecting taxiway, Annex 14 allows the location sign on the left-hand side instead.
Q3What colours does a combined sign use?
Each panel keeps its own colours: direction signs are black on yellow with an arrow, and the location sign is yellow on black with no arrow, and a yellow border where it stands alone.
Q4Why combine signs instead of mounting them separately?
A single assembly at the intersection keeps the position and the choices in one place, so the pilot reads them together and nothing is hidden or out of order.
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