What makes an international airport “international”? The reason I ask was because I noticed today that a small local airport near me (Clow Field) has a sign out from saying “Clow International Airport”. Thing is, I don’t think anything much larger than a single engine plane like a Cessna could land there, so I fail to see how a tiny airport (more of a glorified airstrip) in the suburbs of Chicago could be classified as international.
Unless they just mean Canada.
“I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
International means there is a representative of us customs there. And when you file a flight plan somebody at the airport is supposed to make sure the other country gets a copy, in case you get lost.You aren’t supposed to fly directly to or from another country without checking with customs. there are a lot of small airstrips down along the Rio Grande, they don’t have any signs identifying them but there are a lot of international flights. i don’t see how they make any money. the flights are late at night usually stormy nights and aint hardly any passengers there, no comfy airport waiting rooms either.
“Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx
International really is a tough word for some USAns, isn’t it?
It means that international flights use the airport, or at least one does. It doesn’t mean the US customs are there. It doesn’t mean the airport is in the US. And yes, Canada does count because Canada is another nation. Look it up.
The airport’s location was specified in the OP as being in the U.S. So, unless the “International Airport” sign was pointing out illicit (or nonexistent) international flights going through the airport, or U.S. Customs laws just make an exception for this airport, there is a U.S. Customs rep at the airport.
Nothing I write about any person or group should be applied to a larger group.
Oh please… I know Canada is a different nation than the United States. What I meant was “this is an airport serving the United States and Canada” as opposed to “serving nations throughout the globe”. And even then I don’t know how far a single engine plane can get without refueling, though Canada seemed reasonable which is why I brought it up.
Use yer brains and give me a little credit, people.
“I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
I’m not entirely sure there is a rule or law that says they can’t call their little landing strip anything they like. What are they trying to do - defraud people into thinking they can board a Concorde there?
I think it’s a simple matter of “You can take off in a plane from here and travel to other countries,” and suspect there’s a fair amount of tongue-in-cheek involved.
For that matter, they could call it “Clow Intergalactic Field.”
AFAIK, the concorde cannot fly over the land ( well, it can) but it’s not suppose to hit it’s super sonic speed until over water whic is why it usually flies out of the seaboard cities.
There was a big brew ha ha here in the cow town of Detroit when the Concorde made an appearance here last summer and then took off for France.
To make an airport international, it must have a customs agent set up there. I’m sure someone who’s gone through countless hours of training to spot a “criminal individual” and work at JFK or LAX, would just looove to be stuck out at Clow Field. (Where ever that is.)
OK OK if the airport is officially international ,there is a representative of that nations customs there. Happy now? My home town upgraded its airport years ago and gained the international status. ( Used to be a SAC airfield and had looooong thick runways) for years people could not fly directly to another country from there,on regularly scheduled flights, but there was a scheme to fly CATTLE to Japan from there on cargo planes. So there had to be a customs agent there. Screwy scheme fell through, but it remained international because there is a customs agent on duty. I don’t wanta get into this Ameriacentered/Eurocentered/geocentered attitude debate. I am from Texas, and EVERY PLACE else is just some other place. on rereading I see that I didn’t say U.S. Customs, I said us customs, a quaint way of saying “our custom agency”. So what ever country you reside in take it as that countries customs. ( if I’d used spell check I wouldn’t have been able to get away with that one, sorry)
“Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx
Some small border airports have a ‘customs official’ that is just some local official, often a police officer or deputy or something. When flying into a customs airport, you have to notify them on your flight plan that you’ll require customs service.
Well, here in Wichita Kansas the airport is called Wichita International Airport. I guess maybe thats because Texas is “like a whole other country”. There are no direct flights to any other country. You can’t even land a 777 here.
Jophiel, your comment “Unless they just mean Canada” could be taken as a slur, as if my country was somehow inferior as a nation than the US, France, the UK, etc. I certainly will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you didn’t actually mean to insult my country.
Yeesh… if I wanted to insult the Land Up North, I’d of come up with a better way than asking about airports. As I said, I don’t even know if a plane taking off from Clow Field could reach Canada (or more accurately, an airport in Canada) without refueling. And I also don’t know if there’s anything special involved with flying to Canada from the US seeing as how you can pretty much wander over the border on land either way and barely get blinked at. Therefore, I don’t know if an airport that can only serve the US and perhaps Canada needs any special service that would require a special designation.
Goodness, you people are touchy
“I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
