The systems depend on the airport. First of all there is the Aerodrome Chart which may have the stands marked on it. If not, there will be another couple of charts depending on the type of airport. For example the Aerodrome Parking/Docking chart. So, a map helps! The flight crew will be allocated the stand by the airport authority, or perhaps the airline itself if it is a delegated responsibility.

So, now Ground Control will tell you which taxiways to take. These will be shown on the charts, and on yellow boards with black writing. The taxiway may also be shown by a painted yellow box with black lettering. Arrows may be provided at intersections. The taxiway should have a yellow centreline marking to follow.

There may be a Heathrow "follow the greens" set of centreline lights, but not all airports have them. The lights disappear and a red set of lights appear across the taxiway as a "stopbar" if they want you to stop somewhere.

So, having negotiated your way from the runway to the general area, then you have to find the actual stand. This will be marked on the ground with an arrow, or with a big illuminated number sign at the actual gate (or both). Now, to track the yellow line, you can do it manually but you need to know where to stop, or you may be guided visually. A marshaller can do it with the old ping pong bats or wands. However, there are a variety of systems, such as AGNIS which show red/green on a couple of different light strips to tell you to turn left or right to track the centre.

Do remember that you have to "overcentre" turn on the way in to make sure that the rest of the aircraft arrives on centreline.

Where to stop on the line? You can have a big yellow arrow on the left with the word "stop" on it, a mirror to show you where the nosegear is in relation to a marking, marshaller waving, or a variety of light boards to indicate stopping points. These vary from PAPA which is a vertical flourescent tube behind a blackboard with a slot in it and a set of arrows for different aircraft types. When your type lines up with the white light, stop! The more sophisiticated systems count you down in terms of distance to go.

There are always one or two aircraft a year that fail to stop and end up parked in the terminal building, Airplane style.

I will try to provide a link to the system manufacturers websites if I have time

Happy landings

Spottie