Simviation Forums

Hi, I don't what the "K" means in front of airport names of big american airports (KORD, KSFO, KLAX, KJFK...). Is it only at American airports?
best
Jesko

what it stands for i am not sure, as for the K itself yes its america only, then a differant letter for other countrys, E for UK ie EGGD for bristol or EGLL for heathrow, then Y for canada and so on.

As Y2Cragie mentioned, "K" was placed before the three-letter airport codes in the Continental U.S. to bring those codes into compliance with the new ICAO system.  This is an international system of airport codes utlilized by ATC.  Airline reservation systems have not yet brought ICAO symbols into universal use, but might in the future (?)

Erik

The 1st letter stands for the world region (e.g. Africa= F, Europe=E, America=K and so on).

The 2nd letter stands for the country, or state (I think). (e.g. Zimbabwe=V, South Africa=A, England=G, and so on).

Then the 3rd and 4th letters stand for the airport, they're an abbreviation.

If you go to the "weather folder"
in the FS2002 program folder there
is a list, not complete, of the airports
I think it is the ones with weather
stations, Just interesting!!!

X

The last three letters sometimes can Id the city or the airport name. Examples are KRNO (ReNO/Tahoe), KITH (Tompkins county, near ITHaca, NY), and KPIT (PITtsburg), well others are not as obvious like KMIB (Minot Airforce Base), 4SD (Reno/Stead Airport, home of the air races)
The first letter, as stated above, notes the region or state or country

Being also a general class ham radio operator........

The "K" prefix in radio call signs also identifies the station as a US station.  My call sign starts with a "K".  So there might be some tie to that idea in some manner.

How it got to be "K" for the USA on the radio bands I haven't a clue.

best,

................john

With a few exceptions,,

The "K" only represents the 48 contiguous states within the United States. Alaska and Hawaii differ.