O'Hare is ORD, Why?

[Frank Bama]

SNA

John Wayne/Orange County Airport is in Santa Ana, CA.
Hence SNA

 

[dmspilot00]

MCO isn't hard to remember, all you do is add a Y.

As a side note I just read that in 2002 'Newsweek named Orlando as the "top U.S. airport for just hanging around."' Did someone forget to tell them that you can't hang around an airport because you need a TICKET? @#$%&*

And I was just flying in/out of Orlando a few months ago, there is no comparison to PIT. There were like 3 concession stands in the entire terminal I was in.

 

[Brother Francis]

Mickey & Co. I had heard "Mickey's Corporate Offices"

"N" as the first letter is reserved for Navy fields, which is why Nashville's ID does not begin with that letter. I'll take Typhoon's word for it on the "B"

 

[Typhoon1244]

I'll take Typhoon's word for it on the "B"

Don't take my word for it...that came from Av8trxx.

"N" as the first letter is reserved for Navy fields, which is why Nashville's ID does not begin with that letter.

Makes sense.

That still doesn't tell me how "QX" stands for "Key West," "TU" for "Virginia Beach," or "KX" for "Miramar." Are they randomly assigned?

 

[Frank Bama]

Canada, eh?

Forget the weird identifiers for US cities, what in the world is wrong with Canada? YYZ, YYC, YMX and so on.

 

[Typhoon1244]

Re: Canada, eh?

...what in the world is wrong with Canada? YYZ, YYC, YMX and so on.

All Canadi(a/e)n airports are formatted CY_ _. Beyond that, I couldn't tell you...probably a French thing.

 

[Av8trxx]

Canadian Airports & "Y"

I saved this tidbit of trivia a while back:

"Airports use radio frequencies for communication. Radio frequencies are assigned call letters. The International Telecommunications Union assigned different call letters to each country. Much like each country has its own aircraft registration numbers.

Canada was assigned CB-, CF-, CH-, CI-, CJ-, CK-, CY-, CZ-, among others. (C for Canada obviously.)

CB- was reserved for the CBC's (Cdn Broadcasting Corp) radio & TV frequencies.

CF-, CH-, CI-, CJ-, CK- were reserved for other broadcasters.

CY-, CZ- were reserved for transportation frequencies.
Specifically, commercial airports 3 letter codes begin with "Y", while other have codes beginning with U, Z, or W.

Canadian ICAO designators are CX.., CY.., CW.., CZ..
Which one they were assigned originally denoted what navigation facilities were at which airport. Eg CY.. means VOR located at airport, CX.. NDB only at airport, CW.. no radio navigation facilities co-located.

The ICAO 4-letter codes match the codes for that city's/airport's call letters for their communications frequencies. For example, Vancouver Int'l = CYVR, Montreal Dorval = CYUL.

The IATA code drops the first letter. Vancouver becomes YVR, Montreal becomes YUL. "

As far as the last two letters:
"In the early days of Canadian aviation, airports were identified by adding a Y to a city's Canadian National Railway two letter station code. i.e. VR for Vancouver, WG for Winnipeg, ect."

 

[Skank]

Harrisburgh is named for Middletown I'm told- MDT

 

[ifly4food]

Re: Canada, eh?

Forget the weird identifiers for US cities, what in the world is wrong with Canada? YYZ, YYC, YMX and so on.

The airports were named the same way Canada got it's name...

They drew letters out of a hat.

C, eh. N, eh. D, eh.

 

[tarp]

Going back to the original -

ORD

I thought that was so you could say:

"Oh, Richard Daley's Airport!"

 

[Long Time Gone]

Harrisburgh is named for Middletown I'm told- MDT

YYYYooooouuuuuuu.......are correct sir. It's located in Middletown, PA and named "Harrisburg/York International Airport".

 

[WMUSIGPI]

Mickey & Co. I had heard "Mickey's Corporate Offices"

"N" as the first letter is reserved for Navy fields, which is why Nashville's ID does not begin with that letter. I'll take Typhoon's word for it on the "B"

In most cases yes. If an airport ident starts with N than it is either Navy or Marine Corps (still Department of Navy). One exception is NEW for New Orleans Lakefront. It was built and designated before the Navy was granted exclusive use of N_ _. Therefore it was grandfathered and allowed to keep its code. May be others but I don't feel motivated to search them out now.
Also I believe that once a Navy field becomes civilian it has its ident changed to something other than N_ _. Such as Craig field in Jacksonville or El Toro...if it ever goes civilian use in So. Cal.

 

[DenverDude2002]

Speaking of airport identifiers, why didnt Denver International Airport get a new identifier? They should have let KDEN retire with Stapleton (sorry had to vent)

 

[Frank Bama]

I agree

DIA should have gotten a new identifier. Perhaps taking OMA's, Because it seems like its closer to Omaha then Denver.

 

[RightBettor]

Kahului

How about Kahului, Maui? OGG. I once heard a story that the airport manager from waaay back when had a last name of Ogg. Anyway, when people would send stuff to Maui, they would address it simply "Ogg" and I would get to that particular airport manager. Hence the identifier. Of course that's the story I heard... it could be bull shi+!