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The ICAO airport codes are basically a location indicator of the airports in the world and is a four-letter code designating the aerodromes. These codes have been defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization or ICAO and has been published in ICAO Document 7910: Location Indicator.
The usability of ICAO code are as follows:
Firstly, in Flight planning. Flight planning is a process whereby a flight plan is produced describing a proposed aircraft flight. It involves primarily two safety-critical aspects, which are fuel calculation, ensuring safe travel of the aircraft to its destination, and next is compliance with air traffic control requirements, which basically minimises the risk of having a midair collision. Also, flight planners normally desire to reduce the flight cost through the proper choice of route, height, and speed, and by loading the minimum necessary fuel on board. Air Traffic Services (ATS) use this completed flight plan for ensuring separation of aircraft in air traffic management services, which also include tracking and finding lost aircraft, during search and rescue (SAR) missions.
Secondly, ICAO airport codes are also used to identify facilities like weather stations. A weather station is basically a facility on land or sea, with instruments and equipment that measure atmospheric conditions to provide information like the weather forecasts and also to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken are as follows: temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation amounts. Some of the ways how it is done are as follows: wind measurements are taken with as few other obstructions as could be possible, whereas temperature and humidity measurements are kept free from direct solar radiation. Manual observations are usually taken at least once daily, while automated measurements take place at least once an hour. Weather conditions out at sea are usually taken with the help of ships and buoys, which measure meteorological quantities which are slightly different like sea surface temperature (SST), wave height, and wave period. Drifting weather buoys usually outnumber their moored versions by a significant amount.
Thirdly, ICAO airport codes also provide facilities like international flight service stations. A flight service station (FSS) in simple words is an air traffic facility that provides information and services to aircraft pilots before, during, and after flights, but is different from air traffic control (ATC) in the sense, is not responsible for giving instructions or clearances or providing separation. They however, relay clearances from ATC for departure or approaches. The people who communicate with pilots from an FSS are known as flight service specialists.
So we can clearly see the significance of ICAO airport codes.
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