Read the forum code of contact
By: - 2nd May 2003 at 10:00 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Good question.
To my mind, an Airport has commercial traffic, an Airstrip is grass only (i.e. no hard runway), and an Airfield is everything else. An Aerodrome is a 1930's term for any of the above.
Of course, Airfield actually covers any of the above as well but Heathrow Airfield doesn't sound right. Neither does Old Warden Airfield.
Hmmmm
In the USA, they have International Airports (IAP), Municipal Airports (MAP), and Regional Airports (RAP), so you can take your choice.
Then you have the military which is generally either Air Force Base (AFB) or Naval Air Station (NAS).
We, of course, refer to military bases by their operator or owner, such as RAF Coltishall or RNAS Culdrose. The latter is also known as HMS Seahawk (or is it HMS Gannet?).
Mildenhall and Lakenheath, although used by the USAF, use the British system and as they are owned by the MOD and are still known as 'RAF'.
In general, all Military bases are known as Airfields.
Brain hurts now.
Must go before it melts
Bye
Willow
By: - 2nd May 2003 at 10:53 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
'Proper' aircraft fly from strips or aerodromes.
What a lovely 1930s word. Let's keep it alive huh?
Moggy
By: - 2nd May 2003 at 11:02 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Hey Moggy,
if your going to use 'Aerodrome', you should use 'Aeroplane' instead of 'Aircraft'.
'Aircraft' includes helicopters, microlights, gliders, and Balloons.
Still, it's better than 'plane'.
Willow
By: - 2nd May 2003 at 11:04 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Too right Moggy, it is a lovely word and should be preserved by the likes of us.
I grew up near Abingdon Aerodrome and thats the way it stays, despite the swampies wanting to call it a Barracks !
By: - 2nd May 2003 at 13:25 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Hi Willow, So where does your beloved Sunderland fit into this thread then?
DOUGHNUT
p.s. have you been drinking again ?
By: - 2nd May 2003 at 13:59 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Airport seems the most appropriate overall.
But what about.....
Slipway?
Airjetty?
Airpond?
Millpond?
Duckpond?
Port?
Waterway?
Alighting area?
Landway?
Waterfly?
Dock?
Airdock?
AirLoch?
Loch?
Lake?
Any other ideas???
Willlow
By: - 2nd May 2003 at 23:06 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Well, while we're at it, I hate the word " airplane ".
By: - 3rd May 2003 at 11:25 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Aerodrome is from the pre-runway era, when an airfield simply was a circulair stretch of grass where aircraft could always land and takeoff with their nose into the wind. Not a strip, a 'drome'. Just like a hippodrome where you can watch horsies run.
I'm not too well-informed about British airfield layouts to tell which ones are actually aerodromes, but here on the continent there are a few airfields/bases/ports which show their aerodrome roots. The terminal building at Berlin-Tempelhof is a nice one, which covers the northern part of the 'drome'. Likewise, the original hangar areas of airbases like Rangsdorf, Dessau, Juterbog-Altes Lager and Eberswalde-Finow still show the circulair shape from the time those were aerodromes.
I'm sure quite a few British airfields will have similar hangar-layouts.
By: - 3rd May 2003 at 19:18 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Just to confuse things, Shoreham, Sussex calls itself 'Airport' It was for years an all grass field and now has three grass runways plus a hard main one. It dosn't these days have scheduled flights.
mmitch.
By: - 3rd May 2003 at 22:16 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Hi all
ICAO definition.
Aerodrome: Defined area of land or water used for the arrival, departure and surface movement of aircraft.
Collins Dictionary defines:
Airport: Landing and taking-off area for civil aircraft, usually with surfaced runways and aircraft maintenance and passenger facilities.
Airfield: A landing and taking-off area usually with permenant buildings.
Airstrip/Landing strip: A cleared area for the landing and taking off of aircraft; runway.
As you can see the word aerodrome is far from being lost. It is the official term used by ICAO, CAA etc..
A real aeroplane would never use an airport, only strips and fields, with the odd excursion into an aerodrome.
Willow
Microlites (even flexwings) and gliders are aeroplanes. balloons are aircraft. Helicopters? - enough said.
By: - 6th May 2003 at 08:36 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
And 'planes' are things that you use for carpentry!!
Moggy
By: - 6th May 2003 at 13:31 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Doesn't an Aeroplane have to be powered? I thought a Glider was a Glider.
If you're right, then Hang Gliders are also Aeroplanes.
I agree about the Microlights though.
Willow
By: - 6th May 2003 at 15:51 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
wILLOW
What about Aquadrome?
I think that may suffice for your Sunderland
By: - 6th May 2003 at 21:08 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Willow
Yes, you are quite right in saying a glider is not an aeroplane. By definition a glider is a fixed wing aircraft without an engine and an aeroplane is a powered fixed wing aircraft. This poses the question, is a self launching glider a glider or an aeroplane? Self launching glider is an oxymoron.:mad: You cannot have a glider with an engine - no engine, no self launching.:confused: :)
ps. I didn't mention hang gliders, but if you put a jet engine on the back you then get a self launching hang glider that then becomes an aeroplane! One was at Popham at the weekend.
By: - 7th May 2003 at 00:30 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Not convinced about gliders not being aeroplanes.
I'm not interested in them because they haven't got engine(s) but since they fly using an aerofoil to generate lift, my personal view is they are aeroplanes.
Aerodrome is a nice, old-fashioned even, word and should be used more.
My first experience of aeroplanes was in the middle 50s (I'm incredibly old, even I have trouble believing it) when my Dad was learning to fly with the Hertfordshire Police Flying Club at Panshangar Aerodrome. Tiger Moth, G-ANOH still about today. What with me and the arrival of my sister, a policeman's pay didn't stretch far enough and he had to give up.
Whenever I hear the word aerodrome it reminds me of what little I can remember of those days. They're not strong memories, more of a feeling, as he gave up when I was only 4 or 5.
Strange, Dad was terrified of heights but had no problem in an aeroplane.
Posts: 19
By: martinburney - 2nd May 2003 at 09:47
Hi All
Someone has asked what is the difference or definition between an
Airfield, Airport , Airstrip, Aerodrome.
Regards Martin