Weird airport codes?

[Kalnon 160]

I use Little Navmap for planning flights and as I go searching for interesting places to fly, I notice these airports, airstrips and helipads in places like England or other parts of Europe that have these strange airport codes that don't work in a GPS.  I don't understand how I'm supposed to navigate to one of these places if I can't enter it in the GPS (I use RXP for GPS navigation).  Here's an example where you can see an airport with the code name of XEG0030 and just to the left of it there's a helipad named XEG0048:

How the heck am I supposed to enter that into the GPS?  There seems to be many places with names like this and I would like to be able to navigate to them.

Edited June 8, 2023 by Kalnon

[shermank 166]

Have you updated your P3D scenery database in LNM?

sherm

[Kalnon 160]

8 hours ago, shermank said:

Have you updated your P3D scenery database in LNM?

sherm

Yes I have.  I didn't realize in the screenshot I took, I had it showing the X-Plane 11 database, I forgot to switch it to P3Dv5 database for the shot.

My question though is the same whether it's the P3D database or X-Plane database, they all have airports and airstrips with code names like that,  They mostly tend to be in Europe like Germany and U.K. and some don't always start with XE... they start with other letters but the format is the same.  Are those even an ICAO codes?

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

@Kalnon, RAF Oakley closed for flying in August 1945. Hence why it has no ICAO code.  
Local people use the runway informally for cycling and running.

All operational airports / airfields in the UK have an ICAO starting with EG. More info here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Oakley

[Kalnon 160]

34 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

@Kalnon, RAF Oakley closed for flying in August 1945. Hence why it has no ICAO code.  
Local people use the runway informally for cycling and running.

All operational airports / airfields in the UK have an ICAO starting with EG. More info here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Oakley

Ok I see now, thank you Ray.  So every one of these airports or airstrips in the UK that has a code like that are no longer operational?

I notice my X-Plane database in Little Navmap shows a lot of these types of airports in the UK, many more than my P3D database shows.  Most seem to be unpaved airstrips but there are some airports and helipads too.

Edit: That makes me wonder, why did they put non-operational airports in the simulators?  Seems kind of strange.

Also something else strange I noticed about using LIttle Navmap, I notice when an airport is closed on the map, it and I go there in the simulator, and the airport in the simulator is actually closed with barriers on the taxiways and runways and everything, how the heck is that even possible 😱

Edited June 9, 2023 by Kalnon

[Kalnon 160]

@Ray Proudfoot Interesting article about the airport.  I didn't realize it was a WWII RAF airport for training bomber crews, interesting history.  I love WWII history and I'm also big into realistic WWII combat flight simulation, another addiction of mine besides civil aviation.  You're lucky to live in such a beautiful country.  I have Orbx True Earth scenery that covers all of England and it's a spectacular place to fly.  Navigation I find a little different than flying in the US, like having to fly 100 miles to get to an airport that's only 60 miles away for example but that makes for good sight seeing with all that spectacular scenery I have, Orbx TE really makes England come to life.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

@Kalnon, I imagine any without an ICAO will be non-operational. Look at EGCD Woodford. Historically a very important aerodrome as the Lancaster and Vulcan bombers were built there. But it closed around 10 years ago. Still shown in P3D. Probably not in v6 though. The airport / aerodrome data isn’t updated in every major release.

England is rich in military and aviation history. The US operate out of several military airfields in the SE. Here’s the full list of operational bases. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Royal_Air_Force_stations

And yes, it is a beautiful country, thank you. 

[G-RFRY 1,705]

On Google maps just north of Honiton west country is the airfield Upottery, The 101st airborne flew from here the night of the 5th June 1944 on The D Day landings. made famous from the brand of brothers, deserted today but can be seen from air in P3D,

PS EGTU Dunkswell Aerodrome an active airport in P3D ORBX airports nearby,

Edited June 9, 2023 by G-RFRY

[Kalnon 160]

England really does have a rich military history, especially when it comes to WWII.  I guess it's a good thing they included those airports/airstrips in the simulators.  I do never get tired of flying all over England, whether in P3D, X-Plane or WWII England in my combat sims, it really is beautiful.  I see now why so many British people are into flight and flight simulation 😄

In IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battle, Cliffs of Dover Blitz and DCS World I get to fly Hurricanes, Spitfires, Tempests, etc. and it's fascinating and a lot of fun flying all those beautiful but deadly British flying machines.  I also enjoy flying the American, Soviet and German planes as well, all WWII planes are truly amazing machines.  Those combat sims all have planes that fly by real world performance and they even have engine management fully modeled which really adds to the fun as well as making it much more challenging.  Makes me wish more P3D planes had engine management fully modeled.