KLAX improperly showing as KLAX(9L7)

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Rhygorian
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KLAX improperly showing as KLAX(9L7)

Post by Rhygorian » Sun Apr 18, 2021 2:47 am

Clifford DeVaul - EAV107
Eastern Aviation Airlines

When filing a flight for KSFO to KLAX my destination airport appeared as KLAX(9L7) in my briefing document though it appeared as KLAX in all previous process up to that point. The Lat/Long shown in the Destination window of the briefing document does in fact match with the intended destination of KLAX, however there remains the altered destination of KLAX(9L7) and the added note that "This airport uses code 57CA in flight simulator X-Plane 11"; please have a look into this as it is confusing for those with an attention to detail higher than most.

Kind Regards

Screenshot of Briefing Document has been attached.
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Cat
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Re: KLAX improperly showing as KLAX(9L7)

Post by Cat » Sun Apr 18, 2021 3:11 am

Not sure what that's all about but just ignore the code in the parenthesis. It does not exist in FSX or FS2020 No such airport exists with either of those codes in parenthesis.

Very strange I just booked a charter flight to KLAX and did not get the added code

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Cat
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Re: KLAX improperly showing as KLAX(9L7)

Post by Cat » Sun Apr 18, 2021 3:17 am

OHHHHHH I think I know what it is. Joe has recently merged all local heliports with major airports nearby. But it still does not show up in FSX or FS2020 via fsxmap.com. The process of the heliport merger is to reduce/eliminate the divert "wrong airport landing" issue when one dials up a major airport but then lands closer to a nearby heliport than the center of the major airport, the system was putting the aircraft on the helipad! :shock:

so to prevent that, all those helipad codes now are governed under the "umbrella" of the major airport. So if you had a sim with that helipad in it and wanted to fly to it, you would still need to book to KLAX in FSAirlines.

If you look in the FSAirlines Airport database, you will see these are all X-Plane 11 ficticious heliports in the KLAX airport region. They do not exist in FSX, P3D, FS2020 or the real world.

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If you are using an interface to book flights from your VA website instead of FSAirlines directly, the interface may well be sending you the additional alternate codes attached to KLAX.
OR
I see you are using X-Plane 11 in your last flight report, so perhaps the system now detects your sim format and adds alternate codes in parenthesis for the sim format in use.
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Rhygorian
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Re: KLAX improperly showing as KLAX(9L7)

Post by Rhygorian » Sun Apr 18, 2021 4:54 am

Cat,

Thanks for the timely response and thorough search for the answer. To clarify a few things you mentioned, the helipad that was mentioned in the notes ("This airport uses code 57CA in flight simulator X-Plane 11") does in fact exist and I did see that it does real world as well which threw me for an even further loop being I was flying a flight with a B738. I am also booking my flights via the browser from the website itself though I am not certain how our company routes are generated, or if that would make a difference at all. I am not sure if that information will or won't help and I do understand why the helo's were given some love in this way; that said it would be amazing if there was a way for the booking to differentiate between aircraft types and thus not apply said notifications/notes.

For now and as you said I shall ignore said notes unless operating a rotary wing and again, thank you a ton for the swift reply!

Kind Regards,
Clifford DeVaul
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Cat
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Re: KLAX improperly showing as KLAX(9L7)

Post by Cat » Sun Apr 18, 2021 2:26 pm

Hmmmmm yeah I didn't run them all actually in a search, just the first one. I did run a search of "helipads near KLAX" and came up with "no active helipads on or within the immediate vicinity of KLAX. This does not mean there are not helicopter operations in the airspace as helicopters do not need an official helipad to land".

57CA is showing in AirNav as a private communications company helipad down in Orange County, nearest airport KSNA, Santa Ana.

Wow that's weird. Nowhere near KLAX. So the XP11 lat/long must be wrong for it to show up in FSA as near KLAX.

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From KLAX: 35.6 nm 57CA real world "Communications helipad" over at Loma Ridge, owned by Orange County Sheriff's Department, 6nm SE of the city of Orange, CA.
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joefremont
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Re: KLAX improperly showing as KLAX(9L7)

Post by joefremont » Mon Apr 19, 2021 5:10 am

Sorry for my late response as I have been having 'technical difficulties' with my normal flight/fsa devwork computer (something to do with the power supply, its a laptop and I have to send it back to dell).

XP-11 helipads have been a bit of a pain and I should have been more careful before I imported all of them. Sam is right, I have been trying to merge some of them together, ideally there should be no airports within 2 nm of each other (excepting Westray and Papa Westray) and all others should be merged into a single airport as for our purposes that is all we need.

What is happening is the code is seeing that that for your default sim there is another airport code available for that airport and showing it in parentheses after, it probably does not have to do that if the airport code we are using for FSA matches what the sim uses. This is something that we will fix but as long as you know its just cosmetic and really has no impact on your use of the site you can still fly normally.
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