Looks like it's official.

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FastEddieB

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Fast Eddie B
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Looks like it's official...

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I wonder if pilots will say "Trump tower..." on initial call up or stick with "Palm Beach Tower" - often the city name is used in lieu of the official name.
 
I wonder if pilots will say "Trump tower..." on initial call up or stick with "Palm Beach Tower" - often the city name is used in lieu of the official name.
The updated Jepp charts show "KDJT/PBI", which is interesting. They usually match for US airports. Is the IATA code not changing, only the ICAO?

The callsign for the ATCT and TRACON still show "Palm Beach".

The airport name shows, "President Donald J Trump Intl"

The ILS 10L is now 111.9 IDJT.
 
I have a feeling we'll be updating all these charts again the next time the other party controls the white house. I don't really care either way, it's just a name but I find the whole circus over something so minor amusing.
 
I have a feeling we'll be updating all these charts again the next time the other party controls the white house. I don't really care either way, it's just a name but I find the whole circus over something so minor amusing.
More like the state house. The governor ordered the name change. Apparently in Florida, the governor has the authority to re-name facilities that are not owned or operated by the state.
 
I have a feeling we'll be updating all these charts again the next time the other party controls the white house. I don't really care either way, it's just a name but I find the whole circus over something so minor amusing.
I believe the Florida Legislature changed the name. Federal had nothing to do about it.
 
Will the title remain when he's no longer in office?
 
Will the title remain when he's no longer in office?
I would expect it to unless the Florida legislature decides to change it. That doesn't seem too likely.

But don't worry. Despite my tongue-in-cheek Facebook post about a pilot receiving a Brasher warning for saying, "Palm Beach Tower" instead of "President Donald J Trump Tower," the radio telephony hasn't changed. It generally doesn't.

The change in identifier, though, can apparently cause some interim problems.
 
+1 vote that these things should really be named in memorial. But now that the deed is done I wonder if they'll rename any of the arrival or departure procedures, cuz someone could/should have an absolute field day renaming those.
 
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And politics completely aside, I know it’s been a long time since it started changing, but we should return to only naming things for people in memorial.
When landing on 24 at Green Bay, WI (GRB), controllers usually vector (or used to vector) flights to join the LOC at a point that just happened to be almost directly over Curly Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. One flight, with the F/O at the helm, we were in that left turn to join and I looked down over my left shoulder and pondered briefly about all of the great sports history that had played-out on the little green patch of turf below. Suddenly I had to pause those thoughts to accommodate an incoming epiphany: who the ___k was Curly Lambeau?!

During the layover, I asked several locals. They all knew that Lambeau had something to do with football but most seemed otherwise indifferent. Only one (an older gent) knew anything more than that. So I think that, with a few exceptions, naming things for people in memorial is only meaningful for a generation or two.

These days we circumvent the matter by selling naming rights to corporations, which is loathsome. But we gotta pay our modern-day gladiators, and good ones don’t come cheap.
 
My home airport's official name on the charts is "Quincy Regional Airport-Baldwin Field". Like everyone else in the area I've been calling Quincy Traffic ever since I started flying here.... for over a decade. I only just now thought to look up who this "Baldwin" guy was.


All this does bring up something that could actually matter though. How many airports have you run into where what the locals call it on the CTAF and what's printed on the chart don't really match up? Could easily get confusing if you're not familiar with the area especially if it's uncontrolled field with a shared CTAF.
 
+1 vote that these things should really be named in memorial. But now that the deed is done I wonder if they'll rename any of the arrival or departure procedures, cuz someone could/should have an absolute field day renaming those.

There are some fun fix identifiers out there. My favorite is TEBOW near Gainesville.
 
+1 vote that these things should really be named in memorial. But now that the deed is done I wonder if they'll rename any of the arrival or departure procedures, cuz someone could/should have an absolute field day renaming those.
Oh man, am I havin’ a field day. I’m gonna burn in ell
 
+1 vote that these things should really be named in memorial. But now that the deed is done I wonder if they'll rename any of the arrival or departure procedures, cuz someone could/should have an absolute field day renaming those.
I have a few candidates but they would probably get me a time out round these parts…
 
The naming thing can get confusing when you fly in unfamiliar areas. Joe Blow Memorial Regional Airport is in bumpart county. All the locals say Bumpart traffic, the AFD says Joe Blow Memorial. Dead silence when you call at 10 miles if it's Joe Blow Memorial traffic. All of a sudden someone calls Bumpart traffic and you discover 3 planes in the pattern. And of course ATC calls it something else entirely.
 
My home airport's official name on the charts is "Quincy Regional Airport-Baldwin Field". Like everyone else in the area I've been calling Quincy Traffic ever since I started flying here.... for over a decade. I only just now thought to look up who this "Baldwin" guy was.


All this does bring up something that could actually matter though. How many airports have you run into where what the locals call it on the CTAF and what's printed on the chart don't really match up? Could easily get confusing if you're not familiar with the area especially if it's uncontrolled field with a shared CTAF.

I was west side of the Rockies in Colorado and heard the radio call "Lake County Airport, Nxxx on downwind".

Huh? whazzat?

Lake County Airport for strangers.
Leadville for everyone else.
 
Last time I talked to the tower at Colman A. Young Municipal (DET) they were still going by "city tower". (Used to be Detroit City Airport, like, decades ago.)
 
Until recently our airport was McChesney Field. It was on the ATIS but I never heard anyone refer to it by that name. Santa Maria is officially Santa Maria Public/Captain Allan G Hancock Field, but again never heard it used.
We recently got Hoover Drive around the airport but unfortunately it’s not named after Bob Hoover but after the Hoover brothers who helped found the airport.
 
Hardly unusual.

Major Commercial Airports (with regular passenger service)
PresidentAirport NameIdentifierLocationRenamed / Notes
John F. Kennedy (35th)John F. Kennedy International AirportJFKNew York, NY1963 (after assassination)
George H.W. Bush (41st)George Bush Intercontinental AirportIAHHouston, TX1997
Ronald Reagan (40th)Ronald Reagan Washington National AirportDCAArlington, VA (near D.C.)1998
Gerald R. Ford (38th)Gerald R. Ford International AirportGRRGrand Rapids, MI1999
Abraham Lincoln (16th)Abraham Lincoln Capital AirportSPISpringfield, IL2004
Bill Clinton (42nd)Bill and Hillary Clinton National AirportLITLittle Rock, AR2012 (honors both Clintons)
Dwight D. Eisenhower (34th)Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National AirportICTWichita, KS2014/2015
Theodore Roosevelt (26th)Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Regional AirportDIKDickinson, ND~2020
Donald J. Trump (45th)President Donald J. Trump International AirportDJT (was PBI)Palm Beach / West Palm Beach, FLJuly 9, 2026 (code change to DJT on Aug 18, 2026)
Smaller / General Aviation Airports
PresidentAirport NameIdentifierLocationNotes
John F. Kennedy (35th)John F. Kennedy Memorial AirportASXAshland, WI1963
Jimmy Carter (39th)Jimmy Carter Regional AirportACJ (KACJ)Americus, GA2009
Franklin D. Roosevelt (32nd)Roosevelt Memorial Airport5A9Warm Springs, GA1932 (when FDR was governor)
Harry S. Truman (33rd)Harry S. Truman Regional Airport2M1Bates City, MOSmall GA airport
Key Notes
  • George Bush refers to George H.W. Bush (41st President). There is no major airport named after George W. Bush.
  • The Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport is the only one officially named after a president and first lady.
  • Donald Trump’s airport (formerly Palm Beach International) is the most recent and the first major commercial airport renamed after a sitting president.
  • John F. Kennedy is the only president with two airports named after him.
  • No major airports are named after the earliest presidents (Washington, Jefferson, etc.).

 
All this does bring up something that could actually matter though. How many airports have you run into where what the locals call it on the CTAF and what's printed on the chart don't really match up? Could easily get confusing if you're not familiar with the area especially if it's uncontrolled field with a shared CTAF.

I think I heard three different names applied to KISW when I stopped for fuel on my way home from Oshkosh.
 

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I think some effort should be made to standardize airport names used on radio calls. It’s not hard to imagine a pilot disregarding calls from a pilot using a different name for the airport he’s using, unaware he or she is operating to or from the same airport.

Similar to what others have posted, our little airport in Copperhill, TN is officially “Martin Campbell Field” though it’s exceedingly rare to hear it called that. It’s usually just “Copperhill”.
 
My home airport's official name on the charts is "Quincy Regional Airport-Baldwin Field". Like everyone else in the area I've been calling Quincy Traffic ever since I started flying here.... for over a decade. I only just now thought to look up who this "Baldwin" guy was.


All this does bring up something that could actually matter though. How many airports have you run into where what the locals call it on the CTAF and what's printed on the chart don't really match up? Could easily get confusing if you're not familiar with the area especially if it's uncontrolled field with a shared CTAF.
When I was flying air tractors out of that airport it was always Quincy traffic for me.
 
The radio callsign for the facility is on every approach plate.

I know.

But I don’t recall ever having seen the need for standardization emphasized by the FAA. Often I find out the “popular” name of the airport by listening on the frequency to see what other pilots are calling it. More of an issue at non-towered airports.
 
The FAA DOES provide guidance on what name to call airports by, in AIM 4-1-9, "Traffic Advisory Practices at Airports Without Operating Control Towers":

a. Airport Operations Without Operating Control Tower

1. There is no substitute for alertness while in the vicinity of an airport. It is essential that pilots be alert and look for other traffic and exchange traffic information when approaching or departing an airport without an operating control tower. This is of particular importance since other aircraft may not have communication capability or, in some cases, pilots may not communicate their presence or intentions when operating into or out of such airports. To achieve the greatest degree of safety, it is essential that:

(a) All radio-equipped aircraft transmit/receive on a common frequency identified for the purpose of airport advisories; and
(b) Pilots use the correct airport name, as identified in appropriate aeronautical publications, to reduce the risk of confusion when communicating their position, intentions, and/or exchanging traffic information.

"Appropriate aeronautical publications" certainly consist of approach charts, sectionals, IFR enroute charts, Chart Supplement, etc. All of these "should" show the same official airport name.

Now, that said, it is also, in my opinion, ridiculous due to the habit of local governments to make ridiculous and lengthy official airport names, some of which would be tongue twisters to say on the radio, and in any event saying the full name wastes lots of CTAF time.

Some random examples if you strictly comply with the AIM:

Something simple like the local to me "Page Traffic" becomes "Clarence E Page Municipal traffic"
"Greater Green River Intergalactic traffic" (my personal favorite airport name)
"Washington County Veteran's Memorial traffic"
How about Class C's that close at night like HSV? Can you imagine? "Huntsville International-Carl T Jones Field traffic, Cessna 123, left downwind runway 18L, full stop, Huntsville International-Carl T Jones Field."
 
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Try calling Kennedy tower by saying "John Fitzgerald Kennedy International Airport Tower". See how long that's tolerated :)
 
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