How do I Change the Airport IDENT?

Airports change their Idents (ICAO) in the real world so how can we change them in FS?  Actually we can't  Microsoft did not give us any way to change this.  It is a critical key to the airport data so it is not changeable.

The first thing you should do is to open the stock airport in ADE and delete everything.  This article explains how

Load the stock airport

Load the stock airport

This is the stock KHUT and I have centered the display so that I can see the airport reference point

Check the current airport properties

Check the current airport properties

The ID is KHUT which is what we would expect.  We can't edit it in the normal property dialog but we can change it via the Raw Data View.  This is a tool available with the ProKey which enables us to change many things in the project file.There is no safety net though and no undo so if we make a mistake we could mess up the project file.

Open the airport properties in the raw data view

Open the airport properties in the raw data view

To do this in version 1.66 or later

  1. Select the airport reference point and use Ctrl+Enter to open the RDV
  2. Scroll down the properties list a bit until you can see the ICAO property.  We can change this here

Edit the airport Ident

Edit the airport Ident
  1. Edit the ident to the new value.  Be aware that this should be four characters.  You could enter more here but this will not get properly reflected in the results
  2. Close the RDV.  Changes in the RDV happen in the project file as soon as you make them.  If you make a mistake then you will need to go back and correct it.  There is no undo available.

Check the airport properties

Check the airport properties

The ident is changed.

Test the result

Test the result

Save the airport file. be sure to change the file name to reflect the new ident.  Then compile it and run FS.  You should find your revised airport listed with the new Ident

2 Comments

Ollie Seaward

When I try to compile I get an Error...

Jon Masterson

What error?

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