Airport Identifier Question

[Eric]

How come some airports have three letter identifiers and others start with F or X?

Recently an airport near me changed from F37 (I think) to CHN. What gives?

 

[slickmagneto]

Did your airport go from uncontrolled to controlled?

 

[banned username 2]

If I remember right, it is a weather reporting thing. F37 has no WX reporting but KCHN would. Remember the 3 letter ID is actually a 4 letter ID (it has a K in the beginning)...

 

[ratings:all]

sometimes

sometimes, yes, but it really has to do with numbers-there can only be certain number of combinations. once the airport reaches a certain amount of traffic, administrators have to request a 3 letter identifier from the feds, and they have to do all sorts of research to it-theyre not gonna burn up a combination on some podunk field that gets no traffic. they also have to compare iata and icao identifiers. heres a quote from an old propilot article i had lying around . . .

"The continued growth of aviation world-wide meant that three letter combinations were insufficient to identify every airport. Eventually the system expanded, allowing numbers and four digit combinations; however, an airport served by scheduled route air-carrier or military airlift aircraft always has a code comprising of only three letters. "

 

[Eric]

The airport got an NDB, an NDB approach, and the magenta Class E at 700' ring.

Interesting.

 

[midlifeflyer]

If I remember right, it is a weather reporting thing. F37 has no WX reporting but KCHN would. Remember the 3 letter ID is actually a 4 letter ID (it has a K in the beginning)...

I think I remember correctly. It's an ICAO thing and US airports that have weather reporting (becoming more prevalent) are being converted from their 3-4 alphanumeric identifiers to 4-letter ICAO IDs.

AirNav maintains a list of airports that changed IDs. Click on the "Identifier Changes" link at http://www.airnav.com/airports/

 

[wickedpilot]

midlifeflyer

so that's what the light gun looks like. Using extreme caution...eh

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