ICAO codes grinding a good story to a halt.

stratobee

stratobee

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stratobee
I want to preface this by saying that I've myself been guilty of this many times, so I'm just as much telling myself:

Whenever there's a trip report, story, airplane sighting, hangar find, aircraft spotting in any thread we always reference ICAO codes for the airport/s involved. Why? Does anyone know what the h**l you're talking about unless you're based at that very same airport? It just grinds everything to a halt and makes me lose the will to live when I read that. Now, I have to go find whatever that airport is out of the 40.000 other ones in the continental US, then figure out where and in what state it is and if this has any relevance to me or if it's of any interest. How hard is it to write out the name of the airport? 5 more letters?

There isn't an abbreviation yet discovered that hasn't been adopted by a pilot. This madness must stop. Don't ruin a nice cross country story (see what I did there? I didn't use XC, although it was tempting;)) by starting with "It was a beautiful day so I decided to go for a flight from home airport KOCK, then via KUGH for lunch with my buddy and then to KILL"….:D:mad2::hairraise:
 
Soo-mah-di is how you say it and it means: Stop Using Mnemonics And Abbreviations, Damn IT!
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:D:thumbsup::crazy:
 
Agree with the sentiment and I try to provide state and city to give better geographic context that doesn't require extra work of the reader. The harder I make a reader have to work to understand what I'm writing, the less likely they will care to continue reading. Defeats the whole point of writing posts.

Also, some acronyms are nearly impossible to figure out because they match some common word or name; such as IRAN. Good luck figuring that one out using keyword searches.

(My understanding is it means Inspect, Repair As Needed (or Necessary.))
 
Jim Logajan said:
Also, some acronyms are nearly impossible to figure out because they match some common word or name; such as IRAN. Good luck figuring that one out using keyword searches.

(My understanding is it means Inspect, Repair As Needed (or Necessary.))
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No, it means: "when I found out what that prop overhaul was going to cost, IRAN to the bank."
 
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I have to disagree a little... Sure, if there's a one-airport incident etc to discuss, it makes sense. Or if you're asking "what's the best way to get into New York" or whatnot.

But once the topic shifts to actual routes (whether asking or giving advice, or talking about something that happened), to me the abbreviations are much easier to put into skyvector to get an idea of what happened and where, as opposing to googling every little town and figuring out what state it's in and what its airport is like.
 
I agree completely. But be careful, this can be like a dripping faucet in a quiet room. Once you start noticing all the white space that follows many abbreviations and acronyms you will become constantly irritated and grumpy. "Life is too short for abbreviations." (I don't remember who said that, but he was important.)

Scott
 
stratobee said:
I want to preface this by saying that I've myself been guilty of this many times, so I'm just as much telling myself:

Whenever there's a trip report, story, airplane sighting, hangar find, aircraft spotting in any thread we always reference ICAO codes for the airport/s involved. Why? Does anyone know what the h**l you're talking about unless you're based at that very same airport? It just grinds everything to a halt and makes me lose the will to live when I read that. Now, I have to go find whatever that airport is out of the 40.000 other ones in the continental US, then figure out where and in what state it is and if this has any relevance to me or if it's of any interest. How hard is it to write out the name of the airport? 5 more letters?

There isn't an abbreviation yet discovered that hasn't been adopted by a pilot. This madness must stop. Don't ruin a nice cross country story (see what I did there? I didn't use XC, although it was tempting;)) by starting with "It was a beautiful day so I decided to go for a flight from home airport KOCK, then via KUGH for lunch with my buddy and then to KILL"….:D:mad2::hairraise:
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There are those who feel TLAs and FLAs enhance a story.
 
And then you have airports that have four names: KSPF, Black Hills Airport, Clyde Ice Field, located in Spearfish, South Dakota.

I generally do try to put in both the identifier and the city. Here's one from the entry about my flight from St. Louis to First Flight: I'm spending the night in the pilot's lounge at Northeastern Regional KEDE, Edenton, NC. This is a wonderful WWII marine airbase with lots of aviation memorability on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. I went over to one of the hangers where a couple of guys were restoring an Aeronca champ. In the same hanger were an Aeronca Chief, Nieuport, Swift 125, and a Pietenpol Aircamper in various stages of being repaired or rebuilt.

One of my past times when in the government was to calculate the acronyms in a report. Many had sentences with 30 percent abbreviations, but the record was a sentence with 60 percent acronyms.

Another problem I encountered when editing an EAA chapter newsletter was no one used proper names: "Red and Gunny helped Beans finish the repairs to the rudder."
 
I browse airliners.net every once in a while, and they have this bit of wizardry where you can hover over the airport code, and a little popup will appear right under your mouse telling you what the airport is and where it's located. Any way we might be able to add that here? Writing out the airport names is always an option too...
 
It's pretty simple I am based at FTY (Atlanta) and my most frequent destination is Destin (DTS) :D I know most of my local identifiers, at least the ones in the Atlanta area, but honestly, unless it's a major airport, I don't know many outside my area. :wink2:
jpower said:
I browse airliners.net every once in a while, and they have this bit of wizardry where you can hover over the airport code, and a little popup will appear right under your mouse telling you what the airport is and where it's located. Any way we might be able to add that here? Writing out the airport names is always an option too...
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I agree to a point...but the reality is there are an awful lot of towns throughout the U.S. with the same name. Plus, if I said I flew from Paynesville to Hector with a student yesterday, I bet that wouldn't mean much to you, either. Perhaps the better approach would be to say, I flew from Paynesville, MN (KPEX) to Hector, MN (1D6) so I'm covering all bases. If the names ring a bell, you're covered. If they don't, but there's something in the post that piques your interest, you now have a quick, reliable way to look them up on your iPad/Skyvector/Nav-tool-of-choice with the ICAO.

Factoid: Most common town names in U.S.

1. Clinton (26)
2. Franklin (25)
2. Madison (25)
2. Washington (25)
5. Chester (23)
5. Marion (23)
7. Greenville (22)
7. Springfield (22)
9. Georgetown (21)
9. Salem (21)
 
I like to read the posts that have the identifier and state in the narrative. Gives me a better idea of where we are.
 
TLA's lend no personality to a place. If I say I am based at CYKA, most of you have absolutely no idea where that is and what it at the area might look like. It's just four letters out of 26. If I say I am based at Kamloops, BC, Canada, there are at least a few of you who maybe have been here or in the area and know that it's desert and mountain country much like eastern Washington or Idaho or Utah and that the population density is low compared to much of the US. And there are beautiful, wild, forests and snowcapped mountains not far away.

And it's -20°C here this morning, about 15 degrees colder than normal. Brrr.

Dan
 

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Old story about a new second lieutenant writing a report for the colonel. He packs in all the acronyms he can. The report comes back with a red line slashed across each page, and the letters "UNA" written boldly across.

He asks the top sergeant what "UNA" means: It's "Use No Acronyms."

I agree whole-heartedly with the OP, and extend that to the use of aircraft performance terms in speech. Why say, "Vee Enh EEE" when "red line" has fewer syllables? It makes sense in written communication, but not verbally....

Ron Wanttaja
 
Dan Thomas said:
TLA's lend no personality to a place. If I say I am based at CYKA, most of you have absolutely no idea where that is and what it at the area might look like. It's just four letters out of 26. If I say I am based at Kamloops, BC, Canada, there are at least a few of you who maybe have been here or in the area and know that it's desert and mountain country much like eastern Washington or Idaho or Utah and that the population density is low compared to much of the US. And there are beautiful, wild, forests and snowcapped mountains not far away.
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CYKA is not a TLA, it's an FLA.
 
wanttaja said:
I agree whole-heartedly with the OP, and extend that to the use of aircraft performance terms in speech. Why say, "Vee Enh EEE" when "red line" has fewer syllables? It makes sense in written communication, but not verbally....
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Which red line? Engine? Top of the yellow airspeed or the first red line on a twin's airspeed indicator (usually low in the green arc?)
 
I agree. Limiting references to the ICAO identifier makes for an esoteric story when spending a few seconds more to type out the name and state, or territory, would allow a much broader audience to enjoy it. I get annoyed when someone posts a suggestion to have a weekend fly-in at KWTF when posting the city and state would greatly improve readability and interest. It's all about communication, folks. It's only effective if it's understood. Let's not pull an ATC-0 on ourselves.
 
LDJones said:
I agree to a point...but the reality is there are an awful lot of towns throughout the U.S. with the same name. Plus, if I said I flew from Paynesville to Hector with a student yesterday, I bet that wouldn't mean much to you, either. Perhaps the better approach would be to say, I flew from Paynesville, MN (KPEX) to Hector, MN (1D6) so I'm covering all bases. If the names ring a bell, you're covered. If they don't, but there's something in the post that piques your interest, you now have a quick, reliable way to look them up on your iPad/Skyvector/Nav-tool-of-choice with the ICAO.
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:yeahthat:

"So from Homestead over the Pahokee to Gainesville.." - now, that might ring some bells with someone, but I'd much, much rather have something I can just stick into FF/GP/SkyVector etc and acturally see what the story is about. So no, can't agree with OP at all :no:

Dan Thomas said:
Still has no personality.
Dan
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I dunno... CYKA in Russian means, quite literally, a *****. With the temps like that.. hmmm :wink2:
PS Looked at the pic - pretty place, actually! However, with the CYKA I can just punch that into SkyVector and see where that is and how far of a flight that would be for me. Takes a whole bunch of googling steps out of it.
 
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Dan Thomas said:
TLA's lend no personality to a place. If I say I am based at CYKA, most of you have absolutely no idea where that is and what it at the area might look like. It's just four letters out of 26. If I say I am based at Kamloops, BC, Canada, there are at least a few of you who maybe have been here or in the area and know that it's desert and mountain country much like eastern Washington or Idaho or Utah and that the population density is low compared to much of the US. And there are beautiful, wild, forests and snowcapped mountains not far away.

And it's -20°C here this morning, about 15 degrees colder than normal. Brrr.

Dan
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My mom's from Trail. Been to Kamloops many a time...Still looking for Ogopogo SE of you?
 
Just keep Airnav or Skyvector open in a tab and type it there.

I once landed at an airport with a control tower that apparently didn't have any kind of identificator...
 
JeffDG said:
Still looking for Ogopogo SE of you?
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Oh, he's there somewhere.

Saw a recent, intriguing video clip last night of what appeared to be a sasquatch in Oregon. Sure looks real.

Dan
 
In my first flight thread I used the ICIAO codes but linked to the Skyvector track. Seems to satisfy all sensibilities.
 
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