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One Typo, Wrong Continent

CGP Grey · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Aviation & aerospace engineeringLanguage & linguistics

What it is

CGP Grey explains why airport codes are inconsistent and sometimes confusing, from their origins in old weather station codes to the quirks that cause mistakes. He builds the story around a single typo that sent a flight to the wrong continent.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN people point to it as a fun summary of how messy airport codes are, especially in threads on aviation falsehoods and code collisions.

  • 2 people recommended it
  • 2 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2022, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “just fascinating and worth the watch”

    Fascinating explanation of airport codes.

    simplyinfinity, 2022-12 · Recommendation · in “Airport Runway Names Shift with Magnetic Field”

  2. “Great Summary of how messed up Airport Codes are by CGP Grey”

    Summary of messy airport codes with reasons for the quirks.

    Titan2189, 2025-06 · Recommendation · in “Falsehoods programmers believe about aviation”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: airport codes, aviation, iata, naming, cgp grey

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