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1. MCO: Orlando International Airport. Prior to
its development into a commercial service airport, Orlando International
Airport was formerly McCoy Air Force Base. Thus, the airport was
designated as MCO. The airport name was originally Pine Castle.
It was changed in honor of Colonel M.M. McCoy, who, along with three
crew members, died in a nearby field during an annual bombing competition.
2. ORD: Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
Previously named Old Orchard Airport. The R and D in ORD were taken
from the word Orchard, which sounded similar to Old Orchard.
3. EWR: Newark International Airport. The original
air traffic control radio license for Newark International Airport
was assigned the letters W-R-E-E. With the expansion of air traffic
control in the 1930s, airport designators were changed and most
were based on those already in use by the National Weather Service.
The most obvious choice for Newark was NWK. However, the letters
N, W, and K could not be used as the initial lead-off letter because
N was assigned to the U.S. Navy for their radio stations and W and
K were used as lead-off letters for radio stations east and west
of the Mississippi River, respectively. EWR was derived from the
airport’s original radio call letters of WREE.
4. CVG: Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
Derived from Covington, the nearest major city located in northern
Kentucky.
5. MDT: Harrisburg International Airport. MDT was
also derived from the nearest city, Middletown, which is directly
across from Harrisburg, separated by the Susquehanna River. Harrisburg
also goes by the designator of HIA, which is used by travel agencies,
but the official FAA designator is MDT.
6. MSY: New Orleans International Airport. New
Orleans International Airport is technically known as Moisant Field,
thus the designator of MSY. Although the origin of the letter Y
could not be determined, it is most likely from the strong y sound
in the pronunciation of Moisant.
7. TYS: McGhee Tyson Airport (Knoxville, Tennessee). TYS
is derived from the word Tyson. The airport was named after a local
aviator, Lieutenant McGhee Tyson, who was shot down and killed in
his airplane during World War I.
8. CRW: Yeager Airport (Charleston, West Virginia). The
designator for this airport was derived by process of elimination;
the most obvious choices were already used (CHL, CHS, CHO, CHT,
CHA, etc.). The letters C and R were derived from Charleston, and
the letter W came from West Virginia.
9. ICT: Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. Similar
to EWR, the designator for Wichita could not begin with the letter
W because it was used as the first letter in the call letters for
radio stations. ICT was derived from the word Wichita.
10. IDL: Idlewild Airport. If you got this one,
you may be showing your age. Idlewild Airport is now John F. Kennedy
International Airport, or JFK.
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