photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Carol Foy of the International Organization of Women Pilots draws grid lines where a logo will be placed on the Lawrence airport's new compass rose on Friday, May 1, 2026.

Out on the tarmac of Lawrence Regional Airport, a beautiful sunflower is about to bloom – beautiful, and also useful.

It’s a compass rose, to help pilots calibrate or “swing” their compasses. On Friday, a few volunteers were out drawing the geometry for the design, and on Saturday they’ll be painting it in bright blue and gold.

“This is just a really wonderful focus point for the airport,” said Carol Foy, who created the design.

Foy has been a member of the International Organization of Women Pilots, also known as the Ninety-Nines, since 1991, and is based in Texas. She used to be a landscape architect and has experience with designing compass roses, so her friend and fellow Ninety-Nine, Aviation Advisory Board chair Clancey Maloney, reached out to her about the project in Lawrence.

“We’ve been air-racing friends for 27 years,” Maloney said, “so I roped her into it.”

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Carol Foy, left, and Aviation Advisory Board chair Clancey Maloney are pictured at Lawrence Regional Airport on Friday, May 1, 2026. Both are members of the International Organization of Women Pilots.

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

These schematics show Lawrence Regional Airport’s new compass rose design.

Foy said compass roses are functional pieces of art, and are part of a long tradition for the Ninety-Nines.

“Compass roses, they’re purposeful,” Foy said. “Back in the day, old planes used to swing compasses, and we still swing compasses. And the Ninety-Nines women pilots have a tradition of air marking, and compass roses being one of them.”

Before the airport completed its most recent repaving and renovation projects, it used to have a compass rose, about half the size of the new one, Maloney said. When the project to create a new one began, “the decision was, ‘How big do you want it?'” she said. “And everybody said, ‘Let’s have a great big one!'”

Foy estimates she’s designed 10 to 12 compass roses before, but this is her largest one yet.

It’s 142 feet in diameter and features the normal compass points in blue with the big, yellow sunflower in the middle. Every 30 degrees will be a compass rose point, and every 45 degrees will be a large petal of the flower. And in the center will be the City of Lawrence’s logo. The Ninety-Nines’ logo is incorporated into the design, as well, on the petal that points south.

“It helps if it’s that big,” Foy said, “because if you’re an airplane, the longer you can sight down accurately, the more accurate it’s going to be” when you calibrate your compass.

Around the compass rose will be boxes with degree markers and letters indicating magnetic north, east, south and west.

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

These schematics show Lawrence Regional Airport’s new compass rose design.

Before they could start drawing the design on the tarmac, the team had to bring in a surveyor to precisely calculate magnetic north and the other angles. From there, it’s “high school geometry,” Maloney said. “It’s useful, isn’t it?” added Foy.

Right now, the design “looks confusing” because of all the geometry it has to have to ensure its precision, Foy said. “But when you step back – I encourage everybody as they’re working, please step back. A, you’re checking for accuracy and errors, and B, you should be proud of your work!”

“It’s simple, it’s clean, it says what it needs to say,” she said. “I think it’s going to be really nice.”

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Carol Foy uses a diagram of the International Organization of Women Pilots’ logo for reference on Friday, May 1, 2026, at Lawrence Regional Airport.

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

A marking for magnetic north is pictured Friday, May 1, 2026, at Lawrence Regional Airport.

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Volunteers work on outlining the Lawrence Regional Airport’s new compass rose on Friday, May 1, 2026.