Airport Identifier Logic

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
link.net...

"Greg Burkhart" wrote in message
news:S9f_a.130591$uu5.18889@sccrnsc04...

These are ones that I'm familiar with too. A lot of 3-letter identifiers
make 'some' sense but I haven't figured out how Carroll, IA got CIN (C
for
Carroll, I for Iowa and N for Neu?), MFE (McAllen Miller International)
and
also JYG... The identifiers with numbers make even less sense...


Can you think of more logical combinations that fit the criteria and are
not
in use?

How about CRL, MCA and SJM for these?

"Greg Burkhart" wrote in message
news:ylg_a.131184$uu5.18788@sccrnsc04...

How about CRL, MCA and SJM for these?


CRL is in use, it's Carleton VORTAC, MI. MCA and SJM are unassigned, but
note that one of the criterion (one that is rather frequently ignored) is
that the first and second letters or second and third letters or third and
first letters of a three-letter identifier may not be duplicated with less
than 200 nautical miles separation. Would assigning MCA to McAllen or SJM
to St. James require such duplication?

In a previous article, David Megginson said:
That's getting better, though, as more and more people are switching
to the four-letter ICAO IDs for airports, leaving three-letter IDs for
navaids and five-letter IDs for intersections. For example, the
co-pilot database on my Palm "YSH" for the Smith's Falls NDB and
"CYSH" for the Smith's Falls airport; "YOW" for the Ottawa VOR and
"CYOW" for the Ottawa Airport; and so on.

Yeah, but I just copied that idea from Garmin, who use K at the beginning
of the ident to distinguish US airports from similarly named navaids.
However, I refused to copy their habit of putting K at the beginning of
ids for airports that shouldn't have K for an ICAO code. For instance,
Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico don't use K, they use P and another letter.
And it's not a simple translation like it is in the continental US. I've
had fits trying to get that mapping correct.

Some software will quite happily accept a psuedo ICAO identifier where
they've just stuck a K willy nilly on airport identifiers with digits in
them. I don't do that.

--
Paul Tomblin , not speaking for anybody
This is your Air Force: http://www.af.mil/ This is your Air Force on drugs:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/01/02/mis...ing/index.html
Any questions?

(Paul Tomblin) writes:

Yeah, but I just copied that idea from Garmin, who use K at the
beginning of the ident to distinguish US airports from similarly
named navaids.

The Canada Flight Supplement has also gone to four-letter identifiers
for all airports. The GPS age will probably hasten this change along
everywhere, since it effectively gives airports their own namespace.


All the best,


David

--
David Megginson, , http://www.megginson.com/

"Ron Natalie" wrote in message

METAR - The ICAO established format for transmittig surface weather observations

METAR - MESSAGE MÉTÉOROLOGIQUE RÉGULIER POUR L'AVIATION Hmm. I can't
see how they got METAR from that, but it's supposedly where the term
came from.

Love those acronyms. It's all part of the "secret language". :~)

-Scott

"Greg Burkhart" wrote in message
news:FLh_a.132210$YN5.89274@sccrnsc01...

It doesn't seem always true, (frequently ignored?).


Frequently ignored.



CIN to CID is 137.7nm, 6k7 to 0k7 is 66.1nm and FOD to FSD is
127.7nm... Just a few local ones that I looked up quickly.


6K7 and 0K7 are not three-letter identifiers.

EOK Is Keokuk. Makes sense. CID Cedar Rapids. CVG is my favorite.
Greater Cncinnati, OH airport, located in Covington, KY. Get it now?


Actually, while Greater Cincinnati airport does use the CVG designation to
stand for Covington, it is actually about 5-10 miles from Covington. It is
actually located in Hebron, KY. I think they used the CVG designation
because Covington was the closest city of a certain size, although most
Cincinnatians (at least those on the Ohio side) think of Covington as just
another suburb of Cincinnati.

Maybe it deliberately stand for anything. I'm sure many of you have heard
of ISO, the standards body. What does it stand for? International
Standards Organization? Wrong. It's the International Organization for
Standardization. And in French, l'Organization Internationale pur la
Normalization. In other words the acronym deliberately stands for
neither.

John

"Dennis O'Connor" wrote in message
...
Nyaaa, the guy in charge of that has a sense of humor and was an Edgar
Rice
Burroughs fan... It comes from, "ME TARzan, you jane... "

"Ron Natalie" wrote in message
m...

"Scott Lowrey" wrote in message
om...
"Ron Natalie" wrote in message

METAR - The ICAO established format for transmittig surface weather
observations

METAR - MESSAGE MÉTÉOROLOGIQUE RÉGULIER POUR L'AVIATION Hmm. I can't
see how they got METAR from that, but it's supposedly where the term
came from.

I don't think METAR is an acronym so much as a made up word. METAR is
rougly
pronounceable in most of the member languages.