Transport Canada sign standards (TP 312)

The Canadian standard

In Canada, airfield signs are regulated by Transport Canada through TP 312, Aerodrome Standards and Recommended Practices. This page draws on the 5th edition, which is the standard applied to new and expanded aerodromes. Signs are covered in Section 5.4, Signs (subsections 5.4.1 to 5.4.7).

TP 312 aligns with ICAO Annex 14 — it adopts the Annex 14 sign families, the reserved-red rule and the Appendix 4 dimensioning approach — while making a handful of Canada-specific choices rather than transposing the ICAO text verbatim.

The two families in TP 312

• Mandatory instruction signs — a white inscription on a red background: the runway holding position (including the CAT I/II/III holds), the no-entry sign and the obstacle-free-zone symbols.
• Information signs — a black inscription on a yellow background for direction, destination and runway-exit signs, inverting to yellow on black for stand-alone location signs. The runway-vacated sign also sits here.

What is distinctly Canadian

The catalogued readings highlight several places where TP 312 goes its own way:

• Mandatory black outlines are required, not optional. Where ICAO, EASA and CAP 168 treat the black outline on a mandatory sign as an optional conspicuity aid, TP 312 requires it on all mandatory-instruction characters (a heavier outline on the larger legend heights).
• The no-entry and runway-vacated symbols are explicitly dimensioned. Rather than leaning on the figure conventions other authorities use, TP 312 gives these symbols their own drawings — and dimensions the runway-vacated symbol at the full character height, with separate CAT I (dashed) and CAT II/III (barred) patterns so a pilot can read the category from the symbol.
• Runway distance remaining signs are a defined Canadian type. TP 312 standardises the runway distance remaining boards as white numerals on a black background at larger legend heights than the guidance signs, spaced along the runway.

Guidance-sign geometry otherwise follows the ICAO family: legend heights keyed to the aircraft group, sign faces at 1.5 × the character height, and the same stroke-width ratio. Where a figure in the source is defective or ambiguous, the concept is described rather than a doubtful number quoted.

How TP 312 fits the wider picture

TP 312 is Canada's Annex 14 implementation, comparable in role to CAP 168 in the UK and the FAA advisory circulars in the United States — though, like the FAA, it makes its own detailed choices. The regulations overview sets the authorities side by side.

Draw to the Canadian standard in Wingframe

Wingframe draws airfield guidance signs to the ICAO Annex 14 geometry that TP 312 builds on — the reserved-red rule, the family colours and the legend proportions — so the sign you design matches the standard it will be built and inspected against. See what Wingframe does.