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What do the prefix letters mean? (Read 376 times)

Mar 1^st, 2009 at 9:47am

machineman9 Offline
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Nantwich, England

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I've seen airports with their name as 'S18' or 'O69' or something like that and I am wondering what that letter before the number means, and well, what the number also means. How is it generated and upon what rules is it called that?

Also, I know that for things such as aircraft registrations and probably airports as well they have a letter at the start to sort of designate the country. I believe 'G' is for England, but what is the proper name for all this and where can I find a full list of what all the letters mean?

Cheers

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Reply #1 - Mar 1^st, 2009 at 10:52am

beaky Offline
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Newark, NJ USA

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Airports:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Civil_Aviation_Organization_airport_c...

Aircraft:

http://daveg4otu.tripod.com/pref.html

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Reply #2 - Mar 2^nd, 2009 at 12:38pm

machineman9 Offline
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Nantwich, England

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Ah. So is the 'O69' an FAA one and others also have an IACO one too?

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Reply #3 - Mar 2^nd, 2009 at 4:58pm

The Ruptured Duck Offline
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Legally sane since yesterday!
Wichita, KS

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Why do some airport identifers in the USA not start with "K"? Example: 3AU is Augusta Kansas. It can't be by size because Augusta is 5,000ft long and the airport I spent much of my childhood at, Audubon County Airport (KADU) is 3,600. It also cannot be because of operations because Augusta is much busier than Audubon.

"If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing" -Ben Franklin&&&&"Man must rise above the Earth to the top of the atmosphere and beyond, for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives." - Socrates&&&&" Flying is a religion. A religion that asymilates all who get a taste of it." - Me&&&&"Make the most out of yourself, for that is all there is of you"- Ralf Waldo Emerson&&

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Reply #4 - Mar 2^nd, 2009 at 5:31pm

machineman9 Offline
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Nantwich, England

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Well the K appears to be with IACO, which is international. So is the K just for international airports? Taking guesses here Cheesy

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Reply #5 - Mar 12^th, 2009 at 11:33am

cardinalbrian Offline
Colonel
Fly FS

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The "K" is an IACO addendum to the old fashioned US of A naming system. Apparently there's a problem with numbers in IACOland so any US airport designator containing numbers never got a "K" prefix. You find this when you attempt to enter those airports into a standard GPS data base.. On a practical level it's true that any US airport with nubers in it does not kave a "K" prefix (unles, of course, one startes with a k! But I'm not sure of the real reason.

OK, correct me...

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