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.
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Ignore the Xn codings, they come from guys with a dillusional mind out of one of the perpendicular-to-reality sim-worlds...
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I'm pretty sure only the USA has more than 26x26 airfields.
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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. |
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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. |
Originally Posted by Jan Olieslagers
(Post 9840638)
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,
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.
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@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. |
Think Russia for one example |
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?
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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.
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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 |
Originally Posted by n5296s
(Post 9842238)
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.
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JS,
I would suggest that small airfield codes are all a lot more useful now that computing is taking over! For instance, a popular flight from here (Strathaven Airfield) to Bute, appears in a flight plan - mandatory and now in a computer based format if one wants to transit controlled airspace - as from XXXX to XXXX. Not very helpful! Small unlicensed airfields now have a surprising number of users. To put it bluntly, most big airports with ICAO codes in central Scotland just don't seem to want private flyers, so they have had to move elsewhere. |
It's mandatory to file a flightplan from Strathaven to Bute? Since when?
(I know about the need to submit "a flightplan" when crossing CAS, but that's certainly not a requirement for a computerised FPL using airfield codes or ZZZZ and then "DEP/" or "ARR/" in Field 18 - you can do it verbally over the radio, as 99% of people do) |
Since if you want to route direct! No need to file from Strathaven to Bute if you keep out of controlled airspace.
(and not allowed in this summer, anyway!) Was told the tower just put in the XXXXs when you asked for zone transit prior by phone (as they requested at GLA and EDI after assistants were found to be unnecessary!) or the old-fashioned over the radio way. So didn't seem helpful there not being an ICAO code for Bute (or Strathaven). Bute is a classic example where if you take annual movements and divide by 365, you won't have much of a daily average. Yet on a nice day it can be busy busy! |
But there's no need to - and nobody would - file an ICAO FPL even if you do route direct. You'd just call up on the radio for a Class D transit, as is standard.
Whether there's an airfield code or not makes no practical difference. |
Originally Posted by xrayalpha
(Post 9842899)
JS,
I would suggest that small airfield codes are all a lot more useful now that computing is taking over! Nearly everywhere on the planet has its own unique code. Latitude and longitude. Strathallan is 56.3252° N, 3.7468° W Why try to dream up new ones? (Exceptions being the N and S poles) |
US airfields seem to have codes - 3 group mix of letter and numbers for minor airfields. Which are ICAO compliant with the K prefixed.
(Thread drift Somewhere in Mexico had a 5 item code. Someone flight planned to it from US. The guy entering it into the computer didn't notice, and subsequent identifiers overflowed. Chaos. Late 90s, October.) |
Originally Posted by xrayalpha
(Post 9843182)
Was told the tower just put in the XXXXs when you asked for zone transit prior by phone (as they requested at GLA and EDI after assistants were found to be unnecessary!) or the old-fashioned over the radio way. So didn't seem helpful there not being an ICAO code for Bute (or Strathaven). Item 13 Deparure Aerodrome If no location indicator is specified, insert “ZZZZ” and specify the full name of the aerodrome in Item 18 preceded by “DEP/”. If the name of the departure point is not listed in any aeronautical publication, to indicate it in Item 18 use: - degrees and minutes of latitude and longitude. Example: DEP/5023N02214E |
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