Airport identifiers

[widgeon13]

Ok, most airport identifiers are close to some resemblance of the name of the town or whatever but Nantucket is a stretch, any idea of the origin of ACK as the identifier?

DXR is Danbury, LGA is LaGuardia, White Plains is HPN so where does the ACK come from?

[Gogar]

http://www.nantucket-ma.gov/Pages/NantucketMA_Visitor/ACK


ACK is the Federal Aviation Administration’s official 3 letter code for Nantucket Memorial Airport. It is taken from letters in the word Nantucket. It is not for Ackerly Field, which is really a mythological name to justify using A-C-K. The US government uses “N” for military airport installations. Thus, Nantucket and Washington’s National Airport use ACK and DCA rather than NAN or NAT.

ACK has become shorthand or slang when referring to Nantucket.

[dhrcr911s]

The designators originate at IATA and are set so that similar codes are not in close proximity, nor major airports with similar codes.

"IATA teamed with SITA for an electronic ticketing solution. IATA assigns 3-letter IATA Airport Codes and 2-letter IATA airline designators, which are commonly used worldwide. ICAO also assigns airport and airline codes. For Rail&Fly systems, IATA also assigns IATA train station codes. For delay codes, IATA assigns IATA Delay Codes."

[widgeon13]

Thanks, got it! Just shows how much respect I have for the brainpower and efficiency of PP BB. I came here before any other sourcing.

Or perhaps I'm just lazy.

[cashflyer]

Now, without cheating or Google-ing, do you know why O'Hare is ORD ?

[widgeon13]

Does it have something to do with the Democrats?

[tchanson]

Originally Posted by cashflyer

Now, without cheating or Google-ing, do you know why O'Hare is ORD ?

It was originally named Orchard Field, but renamed to honor fighter pilot Butch O'Hare after the war. There's a great display on Butch by the lower level Helmut Jahn walkway.





Tim

[rattlsnak]

I can give you tons of examples that are not even close to the airport name as you mention!! but usually they close enough where you can figure them out. Ive always known ACK was Nantucket.. and since I was just there last week, here ya go..

[fingpilot]

From a recent post of mine about Paul Harvey's death.

STORY NUMBER ONE

Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago ... Capone wasn't famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder.

Capone had a lawyer nicknamed "Easy Eddie." He was Capone's lawyer for a good reason. Eddie was very good! In fact, Eddie's skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time.

To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money big, but also, Eddie got special dividends. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago City block.

Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him.

Eddie did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had clothes, cars, and a good education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object.

And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong... Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was.

Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn't give his son; he couldn't pass on a good name or a good example.

One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify wrongs he had done. He decided he would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al "Scarface" Capone, clean up his tarnished name, and offer his son some semblance of integrity. To do this, he would have to testify against The Mob, and he knew that the cost would be great...

So, he testified. Within the year, Easy Eddie's life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago Street. But in his eyes, he had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer, at the greatest price he could ever pay. Police removed from his pockets a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion, and a poem clipped from a magazine.

The poem read:

"The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to
tell just when the hands will stop at late or early hour. Now is the
only time you own. Live, love, toil with a will. Place no faith in
time. For the clock may soon be still."


STORY NUMBER TWO

World War II produced many heroes -- one such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O'Hare. He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Lexington in the South Pacific.

One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank. He would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to his ship. His flight leader told him to return to the carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet.

As he was returning to the mother ship he saw something that turned his blood cold: a squadron of Japanese aircraft was speeding its way toward the American fleet. The American fighters were gone on a sortie, and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn't reach his squadron and bring them back in time to save the fleet. Nor could he warn the fleet of the approaching danger. There was only one thing to do. He must somehow divert them from the fleet.

Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dove into the formation of Japanese planes. Wing-mounted 50 caliber's blazed as he charged in, attacking one surprised enemy plane and then another. Butch wove in and out of the now broken formation and fired at as many planes as possible until all his ammunition was finally spent. Undaunted, he continued the assault. He dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy planes as possible and rendering them unfit to fly. Finally, the exasperated Japanese squadron took off in another direction.

Deeply relieved, Butch O'Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier. Upon arrival, he reported in and related the event surrounding his return. The film from the gun-mounted camera on his plane told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch's daring attempt to protect his fleet.

He had, in fact, destroyed five enemy aircraft. This took place on February 20, 1942, and for that action Butch became the Navy's first Ace of W.W.II, and the first Naval Aviator to win the Congressional Medal of Honor.

A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29. His home town would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade, and today, O'Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this great man.

So, the next time you find yourself at O'Hare International, give some thought to visit Butch's memorial displaying his statue and his Medal of Honor. It's located between Terminals 1 and 2.

SO WHAT DO THESE TWO STORIES HAVE TO DO WITH EACH OTHER?

Butch O'Hare was "Easy Eddie's" son.

And that, as Paul Harvey said, "IS THE REST OF THE STORY".

[cashflyer]

Yep, ORD = Orchard.

I've heard stories that the original airfield was built where an orchard had been cleared, but the O'Hare website says that there was a farm town called Orchard Place there that the airfield was named for when it was build for Douglas and the war effort.

Donaldson Center Airport (where I am now) used to be 7A1 until 1998 when it was changed to GYH.

[fingpilot]

After several crashes where the aircraft was cleared to XXX (say), it was 'discovered' that a lot of airports shared an ident with a VOR radio beacon ident that was not co-located. Meaning the VOR (radio beacon) that was the foundation for that airports' approaches was not physically located on the airport.

Of course, the clearance to the (shared) ident (fix) was indistinguihable for the airport or the beacon. Had been OK for years (most guys asked which). Along comes Flight Management Systems that were too smart to ask.

Example;

XXX VOR is located on a hill 5 miles from an airport, but 2500 feet higher elevation. Pilot recieves clearance to XXX, and sets VOR for nav, and selects passage over XXX at airport elevation. Crash was always located at the radio beacon hill at airport elevation.

Since several of those, all off-airport VOR's are now idented differently. Was a wild time there, while all of the databases and charts were changed and integrated.

[fingpilot]

Ok, some funny ones?

SPY Saint Paul Island, end of Alaskan Chain, reportedly base for OTH Backscatter Radar for looking into mainland Russia.

FOK Suffolk County Airport. The Hamptons. Where most of those FOKs live.

SUX The place where the magnificent UAL crew 'landed' a crippled DC-10 without any flight controls.

I'm sure there are more, but Sunday dinner is keeping me from thinking about it.