Orlando International Airport - Orlando, FL
Posted by: 
DnRseekers
N 28° 25.876 W 081° 18.505
17R E 469796 N 3145016
The first Florida stop for many on their trek to Disney World!
Waymark Code: WMG51X
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 01/13/2013
Views: 31
MCO is the tag you will see on your luggage. That stands for McCoy (not Mickey's Corporate Office)
The airport is an old Army airfield later turned Air Force base. It was first known as Pinecastle and was a auxiliary field to the main army airbase near downtown. Today this is known as Orlando Executive Airport. After becoming the home to Pinecastle Air Force Base during the Korean War, it was renamed McCoy Air Force Base after a fatal crash of a B-47 with Colonel Michael Norman Wright McCoy at the controls in 1958.
Commercial passenger service began to be shifted from the downtown airport to MCO in about 1961. By 1975 all military activity had ceased and it became a strictly commercial facility.
Old timers will remember the original hangar that served as the terminal building before the current terminal was built in 1981. No matter how it was disguised, it looked like a hangar, complete with roll up doors. The old terminal hangar was demolished in 2006.
MCO also served as a emergency landing strip for the space shuttle. The west-side runways, also known as Runway 18L/36R and Runway 18R/36L, were designed to accommodate B-52 bombers. Due to their proximity to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, they were an obvious choice for an emergency landing should an emergency "return to launch site (RTLS) attempt to land at KSC fall short.
Because of the tourism industry, this is one busy airport. Plan time for ticketing and security, as well as catching your train to your gate!
Visit Instructions:
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