…not Las Tunas.
Every Flight I track out of KCMA shows a flight plan from Hermanos Ameijeiras, when they actually should come off the Ventura (VTU) VOR. Please address.
No, it’s both. The 3 letter identifiers are not unique across the world. Why VTU is coming up as Las Tunas, though, isn’t consistent wtih the rest of FlightAware in that the 3 letter airport codes are usually converted into their 4 letter counterparts.
And how could they be? It’s only 3 letters, and its a big big world.
My issue is that FA is “defaulting” VTU to be a Cuban airstrip, even though every “departure” from there comes from southern CA.
That’s what I’m saying. FlightAware should be indicating that VTU is a VORTAC in California and not an airport in Cuba based on the context of the flight.
Unfortunately the software defaults to searching for an airport with the same 3 letter IATA code, if it can’t find one it just comes up with “unknown”. The software isn’t good enough to choose Camarillo vs. Oxnard or even Van Nuys as the actual departure airport either. HND is another one, Henderson Nv. right? nope, Haneda airport in Tokyo was chosen by the software since Henderson doesn’t have an IATA code assigned to it.
The same problem exists when the controller puts in his/her sector ID instead of a point. It’s one of those things we have to live with since the data input by ATC is not correct but is good enough for government work.
This is where ICAO should come in, not IATA. If using the IATA code, you’ll come up with the problem. Using the ICAO code doesn’t…
Also, the only other time this should should be a problem is if a VOR and the airport share the same code. For example, SFO, LAS, ABQ, SAC, SEA, etc. There isn’t a really quick way around it as this will happen anywhere… only solution I can think of is ICAO vs. IATA.
Also, a few years ago, there was a push by the FAA to fix the problem, but it only went as far as 2 - 3 airports that I remember. that’s when SLC’s VOR was renamed to TCH (Wasatch), KFMN’s VOR was renamed from FMN (Farmington) to RSK (Rattlesnake). In FMN’s case, there was also a FAM VOR, which was also named Farmington.
In the VTU case, there isn’t much the FAA can do, since the airport in question is outside US airspace. so the only solution for that would be to use ICAO.
BL.