Plain English Meaning

A painted or constructed ring of shapes on the ground next to the windsock that tells pilots which way to turn when flying the traffic pattern at an uncontrolled airport.

Full Definition

A ground-based visual marker at an airport, consisting of a circular pattern of segments laid flat on the ground near the wind indicator, used to show the traffic pattern direction (left or right turns) for each runway when the airport has no operating control tower.

Context Anchor

Seen in instrument flying discussions of the flux gate compass system, especially when explaining how a senses .