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Taxiway ending marker

A taxiway ending marker is a field of alternating yellow and black 45° stripes that warns a taxiing pilot the taxiway ends ahead — usually facing a T-intersection, so the crew turns rather than runs off the end.

[Taxiway ending marker] Yellow and black diagonal stripes across the full sign face, in a gray-framed sign box

What a taxiway ending marker is

A taxiway ending marker warns a taxiing pilot that the taxiway they are on does not continue ahead. It is a rectangular panel filled with a field of alternating yellow and black stripes set at 45°, placed so it faces an aircraft approaching the end of the taxiway — most often at a T-intersection, where the taxiway meets another at right angles and the pilot must turn left or right rather than carry straight on.

Unlike the message signs elsewhere in this reference, it carries no legend to read: the striped field itself is the message. Its job is conspicuity — to be unmistakable at a distance and stop an aircraft running off the paved end.

An FAA sign type (L-858C)

The taxiway ending marker is an FAA sign type, designated L-858C. Its physical specification is given in FAA advisory circular AC 150/5345-44L (Specification for Runway and Taxiway Signs): the sign background is black, the stripe field is yellow and black in equal-width 45° stripes, and the marker is built in one of two overall lengths, 48 in or 72 in. Its siting — where along the airfield a taxiway ending marker is installed — is covered by AC 150/5340-18H (Standards for Airport Sign Systems).

ICAO Annex 14 Volume I and EASA CS-ADR-DSN do not standardise this striped board as a distinct sign type; at ICAO/EASA aerodromes a taxiway that ends is handled through taxiway edge and end markings rather than an L-858C marker. Because the marker is FAA-specific, this page describes the FAA sign and does not attribute its geometry to ICAO or EASA.

How it reads

  • A rectangular panel of equal-width yellow and black stripes at 45° — no letters or numerals.
  • Black sign background; the striped field runs edge to edge.
  • Overall length of 48 in or 72 in, the two standard sizes.
  • Positioned to face the pilot approaching the end of the taxiway, so the field is seen square-on.

Read it as a plain instruction: the taxiway ends here — turn.

Draw them in Wingframe

Wingframe draws the taxiway ending marker to FAA geometry — the 45° stripe field, the equal stripe widths and the standard overall lengths — so the marker you design matches the L-858C specification it will be built and inspected against. See what Wingframe can do.