Non-official aerodrome codes in the UK: X2BS, X2BO, ....
 

It is a bit of a problem in several large countries: there are only 26x26 ICAO codes available and there are many more airfields than that, so that only the biggest get an ICAO code. Such is the situation in UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, ...

Various people have come up with various alternative codings for the rest of aerodromes. I quite like the French system of LFddnn where dd indicates the département, in two digits, and nn are two more digits as a sequential counter.

But recently I found a curious codification scheme for UK aerodromes, some samples are below. Whence comes this codification? Is it still being kept up?

X2BS Binstead Airfield
X2BO Bowldown Farm Airstrip
X3SH Streethay Farm Airstrip
X3AL Allensmore Airfield
X3BX Baxterley Aerodrome
X3BT Boughton North Airfield

Never heard of this ....
Anyway isn't it 26 X 26 X 2 = 1352?

Jan,

Are you sure you haven't found some virtual airfields?

http://nomandown.co.uk/FSX_Farmstrips_FTX/gallery.php

XBRE is also known as Breighton Airfield. Flight Simulator has many weird codes like that. Perhaps that's where they came from.

Ignore the Xn codings, they come from guys with a dillusional mind out of one of the perpendicular-to-reality sim-worlds...

I'm pretty sure only the USA has more than 26x26 airfields.

26x26? I am absolutely certain that there are more than 676 airports, airfields, helipads and airstrips in the UK.

This is from 2013, and has 879, and I know it is far from comprehensive.

Appears to have originated here:

A Catalogue of UK Airfields

Site says last updated in 2011, but also explains the how and why:

Airfield Designators

All airfields have been given a specific identity code. If an airfield has a current ICAO code I have used this.

All other airfields (active or disused) have been assigned a code using a group that will avoid confusion with the official ICAO system. For these I have adopted a four letter alphanumeric code using the format Xnxx.

The first digit is X as this is not used as a first digit by ICAO.
The second digit of the code is a number which broadly indicates the location of the airfield. Numbers 1 to 5 are allocated to airfields in England by Latitude (51N to 55N), 6 is used for Scotland, 7 for Wales and 8 for Ireland. X9 codes are used primarily for private strips. X0 codes are slightly different, these being used for airfields that existed prior to WW2 only.
The last two digits are alphabetical with most showing two letters from the airfield name.

Examples of these codes are X4YR for York Rufforth (a disused WW2 airfield) and X0LH for the WW1 aerodrome at Larkhill.

No. In the Uk, even the smallest airfield can have an ICAO code eg Thurrock EGMT.
When I told the owner it had been allocated one as he was flying in one morning, he replied 'I wish somebody had told me'!

In France the LFddnn codes are used to designate microlight fields. They are assigned by FFPLUM, the French microlight federation.

@PW: the LFddnn are not limited to microlight fields, for one example the Verchocq Airpark is not limited to microlights. But yes, microlight fields were the prime content and still are the bulk.

@PW: [[ Are you sure you haven't found some virtual airfields? ]] No I am not sure. At the contrary some may well have fallen into disuse. I found them on openstreetmap which is less than encyclopedical.

@Katamarino [[I'm pretty sure only the USA has more than 26x26 airfields]] : I am pretty sure you are mistaken there. Think Russia for one example, and the UK as already pointed out. France also has some 800-900 listed, and probably many more unlisted.

@ninja-lewis: Thanks, that looks like the best answer. The chap explains how he came to conceive these codes, it seems to be well-thought. Only sad the excellent initiative was not continued.

Russia, China, Canada, Australia and the US (lower 48) each have single letter prefixes (U, Z, C, Y, K respectively) and hence in theory 26^3 available codes.

Many Secondary Aerodromes and Airports in Canada do not use a three element "Y" prefix. (Fully a "CY" ICAO prefix)

A few examples: Masset, BC is CZMT
Courtenay Air Park, BC is CAH3
Port Albernie, BC is CBS8
Pincher Creek, Alberta is CZPC
Taber, Alberta is CED5,
Ponoka, Alberta is CEH3
Shaunavon, Saskatchewan is CJC5
Winkler, Manitoba is CKZ7
Alliston, ON is CNY4

Some of the secondary aerodromes and airports have three-letter IATA codes as well.

Canada has over 600 airports and aerodromes. Only 13 are designated as international airports by Transport Canada: St John's, Gander, Halifax, Moncton, Fredericton, Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.

@n5296s : true, but I was replying to "I'm pretty sure only the USA has more than 26x26 airfields" which is a sidestep from the original subject.

On a further sidestep: Russia has had to give up some of their U[A-Z] to their offspring (Ukraine, Kazachstan, Belarus, ...)

Map of world regions classified according to the first letter of the ICAO airport code. (Courtesy of ICAO)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Letter.svg.png



Map of countries classified according to the ICAO airport code prefix. Any correspondence between subnational regions and second letter also indicated. Micronations not labeled individually.
(Map courtesy of ICAO)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...-countries.png

Maybe I should have been clearer; I mean airfields that have an ICAO code. Farm strips and so on are not to be counted, surely?

Even in the US, which doesn't have a shortage of code points, there are probably more airfields without an ICAO code than with. The rule seems to be that airports with weather (AWOS, ATIS, whatever) get codes. Others have codes like O61, C83, 3C7, with one letter (in some position) and two digits.

What is the point of giving small private airfields ICAO codes?

Incidently there are examples where airfields with ICAO codes have disappeared.

Wrexham is still designated EGCE yet it has been a quarry for some years.
https://www.world-airport-codes.com/...ham-62944.html

Ipswich is listed as EGSE despite being a housing estate.

Both of those redundant airfields are still listed by the CAA and have IATA codes.

https://www.caa.co.uk/uploadedFiles/...20codelist.pdf

Also in the US, the IATA airport code forms part of the ICAO location indicator.