[PRCo] Airport Codes

Sat Apr 26 17:41:23 EDT 2014

Yes, there are numerous exceptions to the city name's use.  ORD is for
Orchard Field, where Douglas cranked out C-54 aircraft during the war.  BAL
went overseas when the airport wanted to go big time and include Washington
in its name, thus BWI.  Cincinnati is CVG, for Covington (KY), moved from
Lunken Field (LUK).  Detroit's went from DTT (now City Airport) to YIP (the
old Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti) to finally DTW (Detroit-Wayne County).
New Orleans's MSY reflects Moisant Field.  You can go to the Tampa Bay area
via PIE in St. Petersburg, named for Pinellas County, or via the more common
TPA.

PIT got moved, as did DEN (but at least they dismantled Stapleton Field) and
JAX (Imeson was likewise obliterated).  FMY (Fort Myers) did not; the new
airport is RSW, Regional Southwest Airport.  At one time, only airports with
passenger service got codes.  That accounts for PIT (moved in 1952).  When
Orlando closed its close-in facility (ORL) to passenger traffic in the early
1960s and changed its name from Herndon Field to Orlando Executive Airport,
the designator remained, though all passenger traffic went to MCO (McCoy
AFB).  Now every airfield has a 3-character code, but not always three
letters.

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounces at mailman.dementix.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounces at mailman.dementix.org] On Behalf Of
Dwight Long
Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2014 4:50 PM
To: Western PA Trolley discussion
Subject: Re: [PRCo] Airport Codes

Ed

While BAL may well have been the airport code for Friendship Field at one
time, it now is the code for Batman Airport (he apparently has his own for
the Batmobile).

OTOH, the airport the Louisville Bats baseball team uses (if they fly???) is
not BAT nor LVL but rather SDF, which stands for Standiford Field.  A number
of three place airport codes were concocted for the name of the airport
rather than the city it served--ORD is one still in use;  another was IDL,
which of course got changed to JFK.  IAD and IAH are another couple of
those.  

Another puzzlement is how the current Pgh airport, formerly also an airbase,
got the code PIT?  One would have thought that the old airport over by West
Mifflin would have kept that code, instead of being recoded AGC.
Transferring the code seems to be the exception rather than the norm.  The
authorities could easily have used PGH, which would have been well
understood.  (I doubt the Indians had an airport, at least a commercial one,
back then).

Batman's airport, BTW, is in Turkey.

Dwight
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Edward H. Lybarger 
  To: 'Western PA Trolley discussion' 
  Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2014 1:32 PM
  Subject: Re: [PRCo] 9/5/65 - Last day for PAT trolley lines

  Fred's info about which Harrisburg area airport is which is correct.  I
too flew into both of them, but as a passenger.  City codes expanded from
two to three letters after the second war.  WA (Washington National) became
DCA, BO (Baltimore) BAL, RW (Richmond) RIC, PT (Pittsburgh) PIT, and HX
(Harrisburg [New Cumberland] HAR.  Where practical, the first three letters
of the city's name were used.

  Sometimes they're amusing:  Singapore: SIN; Sioux City: SUX; Fresno: FAT
(for "Fresno Air Terminal")

  -----Original Message-----
  From: pittsburgh-railways-bounces at mailman.dementix.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounces at mailman.dementix.org] On Behalf Of
Dwight Long
  Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2014 11:08 AM
  To: 'Western PA Trolley discussion'
  Subject: Re: [PRCo] 9/5/65 - Last day for PAT trolley lines

  Ed

  The sly point in all this was that it is Middletown s airport by code, not
Harrisburg s.  

  Harrisburg must have had an airport before they got MDT, but I think it
may have been before the codes were assigned as HBG is assigned to
Hattiesburg, Miss. I find it hard to believe that the latter beat Harrisburg
to the punch in having a commercial airport.

  Even more fun can be had with asking the question about
Cincinnati--------------------------

  Dwight

  From: Edward H. Lybarger
  Sent: Saturday, 26 April, 2014 08:37
  To: 'Western PA Trolley discussion' 
  Subject: Re: [PRCo] 9/5/65 - Last day for PAT trolley lines Today's
Harrisburg International Airport (MDT) was the former Olmstead Air Force
Base near Middletown.  Again, your tax dollars at play.

  -----Original Message-----
  From: pittsburgh-railways-bounces at mailman.dementix.org
  [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounces at mailman.dementix.org] On Behalf Of
Dwight Long
  Sent: Friday, April 25, 2014 11:07 PM
  To: Western PA Trolley discussion
  Subject: Re: [PRCo] 9/5/65 - Last day for PAT trolley lines

  Fred

  I don't have a clue about the men in Hershey, unless they consumed too
much of the local product.

  The women in Hummelstown are perplexed because the last flood, supposedly
a
  500 year episode, washed out the local railway bridge and they have been
cut off from Middletown for a couple of years. But not to worry, your Govt
to the rescue-the bridge is undergoing (maybe it is finished by now) a
multi-million dollar repair and the fair maidens will lament no more.

  I just came back from a train trip that went over a similarly Govt funded,
restored bridge-in White Deer, Pa., but the expenditure was only a paltry
million USD.

  Your tax dollars at work.  Although I must admit I can think of far worse
uses for them.

  BTW, if one flies into Harrisburg (on commercial service), whose airport
is used?

  Dwight

  From: Fred Schneider
  Sent: Thursday, 24 April, 2014 21:07
  To: Western PA Trolley discussion
  Subject: Re: [PRCo] 9/5/65 - Last day for PAT trolley lines
  The men in Hershey and women in Hummelstown is perplexing.   Why?

  Older versus younger might represent a change in how some state or federal
government agencies awarded parking spaces.  

  On Apr 24, 2014, at 6:58 PM, John Swindler wrote:

  > 
  > 
  > When I first started riding the 7:20 am Hershey bus to Harrisburg 
  > around
  2000, ridership never exceeded 6 during first year, and occasionally I was
the only rider.  After 5-6 years, a 40 foot bus was assigned when ridership
routinely exceeded 20.  By 2010, a third bus was added to the schedule to
alleviate overcrowding.
  > 
  > About the only constant for a dozen years was that I rode this bus.  
  > There
  was constant change in the ridership.  For a few years it was mostly
women.
  Then for a few years mostly men.  Then switched back to women.  At the
end, men tended to board in Hershey, while the women boarded in Hummelstown.
  Even the age of riders fluctuated.  Older riders in early years.  A lot of
  young people at the end.    
  > 
  > 
  > 
  > 
  >> Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2014 18:26:03 -0400
  >> From: shadow at dementix.org
  >> To: pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
  >> Subject: Re: [PRCo] 9/5/65 - Last day for PAT trolley lines
  >> 
  >> On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 5:44 PM, Fred Schneider
  <fwschneider at comcast.net>wrote:
  >> 
  >>> Unduplicated route miles in Toronto after the Bloor subway opened
might
  >>> have been around 40ish.   At that time Pittsburgh was still running to
  >>> McKeesport, Drake, Library, West View.  Millvale and the West End 
  >>> One of my favorite examples is a comparison of two almost identical
  cities .
  >>> Harrisburg, Pa. and Victoria, BC.   Both have populations on the same
  order
  >>> of magnitude but the Canadian city has ten times more bus riders 
  >>> than the Pennsylvania city . 150,000 on a weekday in Victoria versus
  15,000 in
  >>> Harrisburg.   You stand on the main streets in downtown Victoria in
the
  >>> rush hour and you see buses swallowing up crowds of people.  I did 
  >>> that
  in
  >>> 2007.  Harrisburg?  Why would I humble myself to ride a bus?   I own a
  car.
  >>> 
  >>> 
  >> Why would I do either? my bike certainly took me from Camp Hill to 
  >> the Eisenhower Interchange and back easily enough ;)
  >> 
  >> 
  >> 
  >> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was 
  >> scrubbed...
  >> URL: 
  >> http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments
  >> /20140424/aaf0366a/attachment.html
  >> _______________________________________________
  >> Pittsburgh-railways mailing list
  >> Pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
  >> https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways
  >      
  > 
  > 
  > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was 
  > scrubbed...
  > URL: 
  > http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/
  > 20140424/c1b408ee/attachment.html
  > _______________________________________________
  > Pittsburgh-railways mailing list
  > Pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
  > https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways

  _______________________________________________
  Pittsburgh-railways mailing list
  Pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
  https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways

  -------------- next part --------------
  An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
  URL:

http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/201404
  25/2097079d/attachment.html
  _______________________________________________
  Pittsburgh-railways mailing list
  Pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
  https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways

  _______________________________________________
  Pittsburgh-railways mailing list
  Pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
  https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways

  -------------- next part --------------
  An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
  URL:
http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/201404
26/420288e8/attachment.html 
  _______________________________________________
  Pittsburgh-railways mailing list
  Pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
  https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways

  _______________________________________________
  Pittsburgh-railways mailing list
  Pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
  https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/201404
26/f779c566/attachment.html 
_______________________________________________
Pittsburgh-railways mailing list
Pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways