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Anaerodrome orairfield is a location from whichaircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involveair cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes include smallgeneral aviation airfields, largecommercial airports, and militaryair bases.
The termairport may imply a certain stature (having satisfied certain certification criteria or regulatory requirements) that not all aerodromes may have achieved. That means that all airports are aerodromes, but not all aerodromes are airports. Usage of the term "aerodrome" (or "airfield") remains more common inCommonwealth English, and is conversely almost unknown inAmerican English, where the term "airport" is applied almost exclusively.
A water aerodrome is an area of open water used regularly byseaplanes,floatplanes oramphibious aircraft for landing and taking off.
In formal terminology, as defined by theInternational Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), an aerodrome is "a defined area on land or water (including any buildings, installations, and equipment) intended to be used either wholly or in part for the arrival, departure, and surface movement of aircraft."[1]
The wordaerodrome derives fromAncient Greekἀήρ (aḗr),air, andδρόμος (drómos),road orcourse, literally meaningair course. An ancient linguistic parallel ishippodrome (a stadium forhorse racing andchariot racing), derived fromἵππος (híppos),horse, and δρόμος (drómos),course. A modern linguistic parallel isvelodrome, an arena forvelocipedes. Αεροδρόμιο is the word for airport in Modern Greek, which transliterates as aerodromio.
In British military usage, theRoyal Flying Corps in theFirst World War, and theRoyal Air Force in the First andSecond World Wars, used the term—it had the advantage that their French allies, on whose soil they were often based, and with whom they co-operated, used thecognate termaérodrome.
In Canada[2] and Australia,[3]aerodrome is a legalterm of art for any area of land or water used for aircraft operation, regardless of facilities.
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) documents use the termaerodrome, for example, in the Annex to the ICAO Convention about aerodromes, their physical characteristics, and their operation. However, the termsairfield orairport mostly superseded[citation needed] use ofaerodrome after the Second World War, in colloquial language.[4][original research?]
In the early days of aviation, when there were no paved runways and all landing fields were grass, a typical airfield might permittakeoffs andlandings in only a couple of directions, much like today's airports, whereas an aerodrome was distinguished, by virtue of its much greater size, by its ability to handle landings and takeoffs in any direction. The ability to always take off and land directly into the wind, regardless of the wind's direction, was an important advantage in the earliest days of aviation when an aeroplane’s performance in acrosswind takeoff or landing might be poor or even dangerous. The development ofdifferential braking in aircraft, improved aircraft performance, utilisation of paved runways, and the fact that a circular aerodrome required much more space than did the "L" or triangle shaped airfield, eventually made the early aerodromes obsolete.
The unimproved airfield remains a phenomenon in military aspects. TheDHC-4 Caribou served in the United States military in Vietnam (designated as the CV-2), landing on rough, unimproved airfields where theC-130 Hercules workhorse could not operate. Earlier, theJu 52 andFieselerStorch could do the same, one example of the latter taking off from theFührerbunker whilst completely surrounded by Soviet troops.
In colloquial use in certain environments, the termsairport andaerodrome are often interchanged. However, in general, the termairport may imply or confer a certain stature upon the aviation facility that other aerodromes may not have achieved. In some jurisdictions,airport is a legalterm of art reserved exclusively for those aerodromes certified or licensed as airports by the relevantcivil aviation authority after meeting specified certification criteria or regulatory requirements.[5]
Anair base is an aerodrome with significant facilities to support aircraft and crew. The term is usually reserved for military bases, but also applies to civil seaplane bases. Some airbases, such asCFB Comox / Comox Airport, are classified asjoint-use airports in that there are scheduled flights as well as military operations.
An airstrip is a small aerodrome that consists only of a runway with perhaps fuelling equipment.[6] They are generally in remote locations, e.g.Airstrips in Tanzania. Many airstrips (now mostly abandoned) were built on the hundreds of islands in thePacific Ocean during the Second World War. A few airstrips grew to become full-fledged airbases as the strategic or economic importance of a region increased over time.
Anadvanced landing ground was a temporary airstrip used by the Allies in the run-up to and during theinvasion of Normandy, and these were built both in Britain, and on the continent.
Anairpark is a small aerodrome that is built to be used by private aircraft serving a business or residential lot. A residential airpark (also spelled air park) is a "fly-in community" specifically designed around anairport where the residents own theirprivately owned aeroplanes which they park in theirhangars, usually attached to the home or integrated into their home.[7][8]
Analtiport is an aerodrome for smallaircraft andhelicopters, situated on or within mountainous terrain. Altiports are generally characterised by having a runway with an atypical slope to fit in the local topography. Ultimately, this slope helps aircraft decelerating whenlanding and assistsacceleration duringtakeoff. High altitude results in lesslift available to aircraft wings, which requires aircraft to achieve higher speed at takeoff and landing. Such airfields with unusual physical characteristics are frequent in regions such as theFrench Alps,[9]Himalayan regions, as well asPacific islands.[10][11]
Aheliport is a aerodrome which has ahelipad, suitable for use byhelicopters,powered lift, and various types ofvertical lift aircraft. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff areas and may also have limited facilities such as fuel or hangars. In some larger towns and cities,customs facilities may also be available.[12] The broader termvertiport refers to take-off/landing sites for all aircraft landing vertically.[13]
ASTOLport or STOLPORT was an airport designed withSTOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) operations in mind, usually for an aircraft class of a certain weight and size. A STOLport usually has a short single runway, generally shorter than 1,500 m (5,000 ft). STOLports are only practicable by certain types of aircraft, especially smaller propeller aircraft, with performances that are compatible with the shorter runway length, steeper approach/departure paths, etc. at individual STOLports.[14]
A water aerodrome orseaplane base is an area of open water used regularly byseaplanes,floatplanes andamphibious aircraft for landing and taking off. It may have a terminal building on land and/or a place where the plane can come to shore and dock like a boat to load and unload (for example,Yellowknife Water Aerodrome). Some are co-located with a land based airport and are certified airports in their own right. These includeVancouver International Water Airport andVancouver International Airport. Others, such asVancouver Harbour Flight Centre have their own control tower,Vancouver Harbour Control Tower.
Initially following the invention of the seaplane, traditional boat docks were typically used as there was little need for purpose-built facilities. This would later change, however, as commercial seaplane operations proved financially viable, leading many companies, most notablyPan American Airways, to push for the construction of seaplane bases that were optimised for such use. These new seaplane bases often featured terminal buildings for passengers and cargo, concrete ramps for amphibious aircraft, and floating docks that connected to land. Seaplane bases would end up becoming very heavily utilised for commercial air traffic for a number of years, but they eventually fell out of favour as land based aircraft rose in prominence. Advances in aircraft technology followingWorld War II resulted in the development of land based aircraft that were capable of travelling greater distances, thus relegating seaplane bases to secondary use by about the 1950s. Although their commercial use has generally fallen out of the mainstream, many seaplane bases in remote areas still have commercial service as a means of providing easier access. Other bases still exist forgeneral aviation use as well.[15]
The CanadianAeronautical Information Manual says "...for the most part, all of Canada can be an aerodrome", however, there are also "registered aerodromes" and "certified airports". To become a registered aerodrome, the operator must maintain certain standards and keep theMinister of Transport informed of any changes. To be certified as an airport the aerodrome, which usually supports commercial operations, must meet safety standards.[2]Nav Canada, the private company responsible for air traffic control services in Canada, publishes theCanada Flight Supplement, a directory of all registered Canadian land aerodromes, as well as the Canada Water Aerodrome Supplement (CWAS).[16]
Casement Aerodrome is the mainmilitary airport used by theIrish Air Corps. The term "aerodrome" is used for airports and airfields of lesser importance in Ireland, such as those atAbbeyshrule;Bantry;Birr;Inisheer;Inishmaan;Inishmore;Newcastle, County Wicklow; andTrim.
