Airport Identifiers

[PhilosopherPilot]

I like the Key West identifier... EYW When you add the K (for the lower 48), you get KEYW... Cool huh? I know, I'm a dork.

G

[secretapproach]

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I thought i remember my instructor telling me that the the airports with a K and letters after it (i.e. klax) were customs designated. meaning that customs could meet you there if you came in from outside the US. But the ones with numbers (i.e. L71), arent designated for customs.

has anyone else heard this?

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Actually, I 2nd this one. I remember hearing something along the same lines. And no, they may not have customs on the field, but the airport is one designated a usable field of entry, where customs can come to you, or something like that.

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The K is just the identifier for the continental US, same as E is most of northern Europe - EG=Great Britain, ED=Germany i.e. Deutschland, etc. - , L is southern Europe - LP=Portugal, LI=Italy, etc. - (including Switzerland, but hey, you have to draw the line somewhere), etc. The K doesn't have anything to do with customs; John Wayne airport is KSNA and doesn't have customs.

[kellwolf]

Just about all the major Canadian airports have Y in them somewhere. YVR, YYZ, etc. At least all the ones I had to memorize for XJT started with Y.

[kellwolf]

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EYW When you add the K (for the lower 48), you get KEYW.

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Must be a FL thing. Kissimmee's identifier is ISM.

[SUSPilot]

Kirksville, MO where I went to college for three years has the identifier IRK or KIRK with the k.

[MikeD]

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Hijack,

Speaking of DEN, does anybody remember if DEN was the identifier for Stapleton, or did that come when they opened DIA? Just curious. That was a little before I was old enough to fly.

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DEN was Stapleton's identifier. People call the new Denver airport DIA, which kind of irks me. It's the same as Tucson Intl Airport. It's TUS, but many people refer to it as TIA, which is entirely incorrect. Then I see guys trying to pull down NOTAMS and WX for TIA, and getting nothing resembling Tucson back.

[FlyChicaga]

http://adds.aviationweather.gov/metars/stations.txt

[Michael_F]

[ QUOTE ]
I like the Key West identifier... EYW When you add the K (for the lower 48), you get KEYW... Cool huh? I know, I'm a dork.

G

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What do you get when you put the "K" in front of Little Rock's code?

[mtsu_av8er]

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I like the Key West identifier... EYW When you add the K (for the lower 48), you get KEYW... Cool huh? I know, I'm a dork.

G

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What do you get when you put the "K" in front of Little Rock's code?

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That one is my personal favorite....

[seagull]

I stand by my last post. Those other airports are probably designated as reliever or alternates by the ATA, who does the actual naming. This is why they're called "ATA codes". Doesn't matter if it never saw service or not, that's for ATA to decide. If one got changed recently to a 3 letter, it's probably because someone at ATA wanted it for some reason and was able to justify it.

Alaska airports ICAO ident starts with PA, not just "P", incidentally. Some just match up with the ATA code, but not all of them do, such as PAED for EAD Elmendorf, PAFA is FAI, etc. PH is for Hawaii, so, aside for PHNL, others, like ITO are PHTO, for example.

[kellwolf]

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DEN was Stapleton's identifier. People call the new Denver airport DIA, which kind of irks me. It's the same as Tucson Intl Airport. It's TUS, but many people refer to it as TIA, which is entirely incorrect.

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Wow, and I figured I was the only one that got my panties in a twist when the news refers to MCO as OIA.

[PhilosopherPilot]

The local news in West Palm Beach refer to the airport as PBIA. I find that sort of thing pretty annoying too.

G

[John]

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Just about all the major Canadian airports have Y in them somewhere. YVR, YYZ, etc. At least all the ones I had to memorize for XJT started with Y.

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Yea all Canadian airports start with C and then usually have a Y in there as well usually following the C (eg. YYZ, YUL, YVR, YYC, YEG etc.). Not all of them have the Y though but it's mostly smaller airports that don't have it like Welland, Ontario is CNQ3 but St. Catharines (larger but still just a GA airport) is CYSN. That's Canada for you though

[Brandon]

I think the 'Y' in Canadian identifiers indicates that it is a weather observation station.

[ROFCIBC]

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So there are more than 17,576 airports? 26*26*26

I just have a hard time believing that.


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When you throw in the navaid identifiers that had to be changed because they didn't reside on the airport, hence couldn't have the same name, I'd bet that jacked up, or down, the available three letter stuff.

i.e. Purdue is LAF and the vortac also used to be LAF. Changed the vortac to BVT. Presto, just used up three different letters!

Or the "expansion" thing. DFW, the vortac and airport got two new vortacs to replace the old DFW. Cowboy and Ranger. FUZ was one of them, can't remember the other identifier.

Again, Pop! there goes another rubber tree plant!
(from an old, very old song!)

[seagull]

As it is, Navaids often share the 3 letter idents with other ones elsewhere in the world. Some have 6 or more that share it.

[Mr_Creepy]

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DEN was Stapleton's identifier. People call the new Denver airport DIA, which kind of irks me. It's the same as Tucson Intl Airport. It's TUS, but many people refer to it as TIA, which is entirely incorrect. Then I see guys trying to pull down NOTAMS and WX for TIA, and getting nothing resembling Tucson back.

[/ QUOTE ]

Same thing here in Orlando - People keep referring to MCO as OIA.

Annoying.

[Maximillian_Jenius]

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i.e. Purdue is LAF and the vortac also used to be LAF. Changed the vortac to BVT. Presto, just used up three different letters!

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TUS the airport and the VORTAC are both ID as TUS.


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Again, Pop! there goes another rubber tree plant!
(from an old, very old song!)

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I love that song...


-Matthew

[SteveC]

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When you throw in the navaid identifiers that had to be changed because they didn't reside on the airport, hence couldn't have the same name, I'd bet that jacked up, or down, the available three letter stuff.


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What is the criteria for when an identifier change is needed, I wonder? GRR is almost 6 miles away from KGRR, and GRB is just over 5 miles away from KGRB, as just two examples of VORs not directly on the field....

[ROFCIBC]

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What is the criteria for when an identifier change is needed, I wonder? GRR is almost 6 miles away from KGRR, and GRB is just over 5 miles away from KGRB, as just two examples of VORs not directly on the field....

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I'd bet there is some TERPS criteria on possibly physical distance or the use for departures, arrivals and approaches at the airport. But I honestly don't know.

Plus there’s the process of just WHAT is used. "Boiler" (BVT) and "Brickyard" (VHP near Indianapolis) make sense. But some don't. Nor does the actual selection of the three letters! VHP is located out near Claremont, IN...so where's "VHP" come from? And "Hoosier" OOM is down in the land of perverts, music majors and lawyers (triple redundancy)...i.e. Indiana University! Maybe "Oh, Oh My!" (us Boilermakers have to get a dig in at the "other" school)

Speaking of the "other school", South Bend became "Gipper"...after that guy from the Northern Indiana Boys Vocational & Technical School for Wayward Priests!

In the trivia department, why is Mobile (SJI) called "Semmes"?

HINT: Has to do with the civil war and the battle of Mobile Bay.

[ROFCIBC]

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Same thing here in Orlando - People keep referring to MCO as OIA.

Annoying.

[/ QUOTE ]

OK, where did MCO come from?

This is a test, the FAA will be notified of the results!

[ROFCIBC]

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Canada is a little more confusing and the airport codes don't always give away which city they are, like how do you get YYZ out of Toronto?

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Probably similar to Castle AFB (KMER) in Merced, while the Merced Municipal Airport was KMCE. Multiple airports in close proximity.

Here's a good one...EDAF Frankfurt, EDAR Ramstein AB. The "F" and "R" make sense. But what of "EDA"?

Or in the UK..."EGUN" Mildenhall.

I once heard the "E" was for Europe, the "D" for Deutschland, and "A" for Air Force. Don’t know if that was right or not but it made sense so I bought it....hey! I'm easy!

[secretapproach]

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Canada is a little more confusing and the airport codes don't always give away which city they are, like how do you get YYZ out of Toronto?

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Probably similar to Castle AFB (KMER) in Merced, while the Merced Municipal Airport was KMCE. Multiple airports in close proximity.

Here's a good one...EDAF Frankfurt, EDAR Ramstein AB. The "F" and "R" make sense. But what of "EDA"?

Or in the UK..."EGUN" Mildenhall.

I once heard the "E" was for Europe, the "D" for Deutschland, and "A" for Air Force. Don’t know if that was right or not but it made sense so I bought it....hey! I'm easy!

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E is Northern Europe, D is Deutschland. I can't find an EDAF - where is that? Frankfurt/Main is EDDF, do you mean that? And on a side note, because a lot of people think Main means the "main" airport, it actually refers to the Main River and is pronounced "M-EYE-N" (as in your eyes you see with). Most of Southern Europe is L and most identifiers make sense to some degree. Even LPPT (Lisbon) makes sense if you dig deeper: it's Portela airport. Everything in France starts with LF (I guess the French wanted to be considered Southern Europe). I think there is a map of the regions worldwide in the Bottlang manuals.

The one that's always bugged me, though, is EGGW. It's a London airport but it's not Gatwick, but rather Luton. Gatwick is EGKK. Can anyone explain that one? I can't figure it out.

[SteveC]

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Same thing here in Orlando - People keep referring to MCO as OIA.

Annoying.

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OK, where did MCO come from?

This is a test, the FAA will be notified of the results!

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McCoy AFB (closed 1974).


(can I keep my license?)

[C650CPT]

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In the trivia department, why is Mobile (SJI) called "Semmes"?

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Raphael Semmes, a resident of Mobile, held the ranks of Admiral and General in the confederacy.

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OK, where did MCO come from?

The old McCoy Air Force Base was shut down in 1975, that and some other land was given to the city of Orlando and in 1976 it was renamed Orlando Intl Airport, yet the first Intl. flight didn't take off untill 1984.

Ok so I have a little extra free time on my hands today and googled for the answers ... the only prize I want is to come home ... please!

Jim