ICAO code hints

• We have (or we target to have) all official ICAO codes www.icao.int of in the database. The ICAO database is one of our main references.

  • Sometime it is hard to understand "why" or "why not" ICAO creates a new entry for a certain aircraft type.
  • Some entries of the ICAO database are duplicates of others entries. This seems to have technical reasons and we will try to eliminate those duplicates (if they are reported).
  • Rule of thumb: "All entries of www.icao.int minus duplicates" are supposed to be in the swift DB

• IATA codes: There are cases where IATA distinguishes two aircraft types, while ICAO does not. This means IATA uses are more detailed scheme and we (normally) create those extra entries.

• Code descriptions:

  • We have 3 description fields which can be used to describe the aircraft. As those fields are searchable such descriptions will help to find the most appropriate entry.

  • Normally we will use those fields to provide the company aircraft types.

  • In cases where there are more detailed company codes (more detailed than the ICAO and IATA entries) we need to decide on a "case by case" basis if it makes sense to create multiple entries, or rather use one of the existing entries. This decision depends on many factors:

    • Is there a visual difference among those company types?
    • Is that aircraft frequently used in flight simulation?
    • Are many distributions supporting this aircraft?

• Remark: As it is easier to later merge entries (than to split them), sometimes it makes sense to create a new entry if not 100% sure.

::: {.note} ::: {.title} Note :::

The above explains why we use a review process to create new ICAO codes :::