Why do us airports start with k

No two airports share the same IATA code, though officials say it's possible we'll have to rethink the process if more crop up than there are three-letter combinations to assign this isn't likely to happen anytime soon. Other airport codes are harder to decipher. The airport marketing team took advantage of the fun code and created a website to attract tourists, fly2pie. And then there are the fun ones.

Improve this question. Alaska, at least Anchorage, uses P as does Honolulu. My guess is that all Pacific region U. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. Community Bot 1.

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Version labels for answers. Linked 1. Related 6. Talk to a local pilot familiar with the area, and it is likely he or she is aware of a host of small privately held airports that are not displayed on sectional charts. In my local area, a minimum of 7 such airports come to mind. When identifying a runway to the FAA, the owner has the option to decline charting of the runway; often not charting an airport is tied to liability concerns.

State laws govern liability differently thus some states will show greater numbers of private airports than others. There is also an incentive to simply stay under the radar of the local pilot population.

In some areas, private fields are common enough that it is advantageous to simply save chart space on the sectional. Additionally local controllers are more familiar with colloquial terminology rather than identifiers. Additionally identifier conventions are less consistent for private fields and not publishing this information eliminated additional churn and tracking for the FAA. Airport identifiers are governed by multiple regulatory bodies.

The national body the FAA manages airport identifiers, but works in tandem with the international regulatory agency, ICAO, to standardize and formalize airport identification codes. When governed by ICAO, airport identifiers adhere to regional and national naming conventions.

Some airports also carry identifiers used by the airline and cargo industries to simplify customer service, but for pilots, the ICAO and or FAA identifier is the proper navigational and flight planning identifier to use.

Allen is a certified flight instructor and lifelong aviation enthusiast. He graduated from Wichita State University with a degree in Aerospace Engineering, and works as an experimental flight test pilot for a major OEM with experience in a wide range of turbine powered aircraft. I recently had a phone call and email exchange with an air traffic controller named Mike, who has worked in several different ATC roles in the San Antonio, Texas region.

He is currently an approach