a matter of grammar
three guys in the cockpit of a modern airliner. its night time. none of them have been to "THE" airport at night.
ATC says: Airport 12 o'clock and 14 miles, advise in sight for visual approach
Old game: Who sees airport first?
Captain doesn't want to look upstaged by copilot.
Copilot knows he should be captain.
Jumpseater knows he is a dispatcher but feels the urge to be alpha male.
LOOK says someone (anyone) THERE IS THE AIRPORT.
EVERYONE CHIMES IN : I JUST GOT IT TOO.
NOW everyone feels good about their prowess at sighting airports.
BUT, anytime you see THE AIRPORT. SAY THE WORDS: I SEE "AN" AIRPORT.
KEYWORD "AN" . YOU are now top dog seeing "AN" airport and a SMART PILOT for leaving positive identification to other means.
HOW do you identify an airport?
(for some reason I am reminded of "I LOVE LUCY" and the words: "HELLO BALL", but I digress).
Before radio and any navigation but pilotage, a pilot would fly over an airport and hope to read the name of the airport on a hangar or painted on the taxiway. In the film, "THE SPIRIT OF ST LOUIS" Lindbergh flys over Le Bourget and can read it on the hangar roof.
Years later, many airports had NDB/LOM which would help identify the correct airport. Provided you knew how to identify the NDB/LOM with morse code.
VORs, ILS, RNAV, GPS, IRS, NOW, GPA , MADD (the last three are national organization (for)women, grade point average, mothers against drunk driving).
But we are in a hurry in flying now. Every minute counts. HOW much? What, about 50 bucks a minute or more? You tell me.
So we don't fly over a field and read the name. And all those fancy gadgets are nice, but I SEE THE AIRPORT. THE AIRPORT "THE " airport.
So never say, "THE". Say, "AN" and then confirm it. Confirm it a couple of ways if you can.