697 

Federal Aviation Administration, DOT 

§ 77.17 

(a) Any object of natural growth, ter-

rain, or permanent or temporary con-
struction or alteration, including 
equipment or materials used and any 
permanent or temporary apparatus. 

(b) The alteration of any permanent 

or temporary existing structure by a 
change in its height, including appur-
tenances, or lateral dimensions, includ-
ing equipment or material used there-
in. 

§ 77.15

Scope. 

(a) This subpart describes standards 

used to determine obstructions to air 
navigation that may affect the safe and 
efficient use of navigable airspace and 
the operation of planned or existing air 
navigation and communication facili-
ties. Such facilities include air naviga-
tion aids, communication equipment, 
airports, Federal airways, instrument 
approach or departure procedures, and 
approved off-airway routes. 

(b) Objects that are considered ob-

structions under the standards de-
scribed in this subpart are presumed 
hazards to air navigation unless fur-
ther aeronautical study concludes that 
the object is not a hazard. Once further 
aeronautical study has been initiated, 
the FAA will use the standards in this 
subpart, along with FAA policy and 
guidance material, to determine if the 
object is a hazard to air navigation. 

(c) The FAA will apply these stand-

ards with reference to an existing air-
port facility, and airport proposals re-
ceived by the FAA, or the appropriate 
military service, before it issues a final 
determination. 

(d) For airports having defined run-

ways with specially prepared hard sur-
faces, the primary surface for each run-
way extends 200 feet beyond each end of 
the runway. For airports having de-
fined strips or pathways used regularly 
for aircraft takeoffs and landings, and 
designated runways, without specially 
prepared hard surfaces, each end of the 
primary surface for each such runway 
shall coincide with the corresponding 
end of the runway. At airports, exclud-
ing seaplane bases, having a defined 
landing and takeoff area with no de-
fined pathways for aircraft takeoffs 
and landings, a determination must be 
made as to which portions of the land-
ing and takeoff area are regularly used 

as landing and takeoff pathways. Those 
determined pathways must be consid-
ered runways, and an appropriate pri-
mary surface as defined in § 77.19 will 
be considered as longitudinally cen-
tered on each such runway. Each end of 
that primary surface must coincide 
with the corresponding end of that run-
way. 

(e) The standards in this subpart 

apply to construction or alteration 
proposals on an airport (including heli-
ports and seaplane bases with marked 
lanes) if that airport is one of the fol-
lowing before the issuance of the final 
determination: 

(1) Available for public use and is 

listed in the Airport/Facility Direc-
tory, Supplement Alaska, or Supple-
ment Pacific of the U.S. Government 
Flight Information Publications; or 

(2) A planned or proposed airport or 

an airport under construction of which 
the FAA has received actual notice, ex-
cept DOD airports, where there is a 
clear indication the airport will be 
available for public use; or, 

(3) An airport operated by a Federal 

agency or the DOD; or, 

(4) An airport that has at least one 

FAA-approved instrument approach. 

§ 77.17

Obstruction standards. 

(a) An existing object, including a 

mobile object, is, and a future object 
would be an obstruction to air naviga-
tion if it is of greater height than any 
of the following heights or surfaces: 

(1) A height of 499 feet AGL at the 

site of the object. 

(2) A height that is 200 feet AGL, or 

above the established airport ele-
vation, whichever is higher, within 3 
nautical miles of the established ref-
erence point of an airport, excluding 
heliports, with its longest runway 
more than 3,200 feet in actual length, 
and that height increases in the pro-
portion of 100 feet for each additional 
nautical mile from the airport up to a 
maximum of 499 feet. 

(3) A height within a terminal obsta-

cle clearance area, including an initial 
approach segment, a departure area, 
and a circling approach area, which 
would result in the vertical distance 
between any point on the object and an 
established minimum instrument 

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