It's always nice when there's a chance to throw some fun into the learning process. Anyone who looks at aviation maps, whether they're a pilot or some day want to be, sees those inexplicably-named 5-letter names for waypoints (also called intersections and fixes) on the map. Sometimes they may actually make some sense. Near here, GILRO intersection located near the city of Gilroy is the entry point for instrument approaches to San Jose International and Reid-Hillview Airports. And SUNOL intersection, located near the town of, you guessed it, Sunol is commonly used for traffic going to San Francisco and Oakland International Airports. So if you're not on an instrument flight plan, it's good to know so you can steer clear of these chokepoints.
More often than not, the names make little sense. They are, after all, just intended as a 5-letter index into a navigation database. For example, at Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose, we have boring and meaningless names on the RNAV/GPS Runway 31R approach - after passing the initial approach fix at GILRO, it goes to ECYON, OZNUM and JOPAN. They really are just intended to enter into a flight computer. And you don't even enter them since you'd just select the whole approach procedure.
But fortunately there are some gems of humor out there too. Yesterday I mentioned a few on Twitter and Facebook, and asked who knows of more of them. I started by mentioning one of the most famous in the aviation community, the "Looney Tunes Approach" at Portsmouth NH (KPSM), which has a series of waypoints ITAWT, ITAWA, PUDYE, TTATT and IDEED. (If you aren't seeing that as a quote of the cartoon character Tweety Bird, read it again.) Someone at the FAA had fun with that. And now all of us can too. The instrument approach procedure (or "approach plate") for that one is the Portsmouth RNAV/GPS Runway 16 approach.
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More often than not, the names make little sense. They are, after all, just intended as a 5-letter index into a navigation database. For example, at Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose, we have boring and meaningless names on the RNAV/GPS Runway 31R approach - after passing the initial approach fix at GILRO, it goes to ECYON, OZNUM and JOPAN. They really are just intended to enter into a flight computer. And you don't even enter them since you'd just select the whole approach procedure.
But fortunately there are some gems of humor out there too. Yesterday I mentioned a few on Twitter and Facebook, and asked who knows of more of them. I started by mentioning one of the most famous in the aviation community, the "Looney Tunes Approach" at Portsmouth NH (KPSM), which has a series of waypoints ITAWT, ITAWA, PUDYE, TTATT and IDEED. (If you aren't seeing that as a quote of the cartoon character Tweety Bird, read it again.) Someone at the FAA had fun with that. And now all of us can too. The instrument approach procedure (or "approach plate") for that one is the Portsmouth RNAV/GPS Runway 16 approach. Share
(There's something odd about tweeting on Twitter a quote from Tweety Bird.)
But that's just the beginning of it. Another one in New Hampshire is at the Lebanon (KLEB) airport's ILS Runway 18 approach where an aircraft will sequence through the waypoints HAMMM BURGR and FRYYS.
More promotion of local cuisine can be found at Kansas City MO (MCI) on the ILS Runway 1R approach where the waypoints along the ILS final approach course are SPICY, BARBQ, TERKY, SMOKE and RIBBS.
There's another kind of instrument procedure chart called a standard arrival or STAR. Larger airports and metropolitan areas have these to help sequence instrument arrivals farther out from the destination. For the Houston Hobby Airport (KHOU) and some other airports in the area, the TEXNN FOUR standard arrival procedure starts at the Cowboy VOR (CVE) near Dallas and then continues playing on the sports theme from there through these waypoints: ELLVR (player name), GOALL, PPUNT, DRPPD, FTBAL, CARRR (player name), TEXNN, COACH, QTRBK, TAKKL, RECVR, FMBLE and TCHDN which positions you for several approaches to Houston.
The sports theme seems to be popular with the FAA. At Portland, Oregon (KPDX) there are two waypoints on the ILS Runway 10L approach called TRAYL and BLAZR after the local NBA team.
Some online forums pointed out that Green Bay WI (KGRB) has a bunch of sports players' names among local waypoints. Although the Final Approach Fixes (FAFs) called FRZZN and TNDRA on the RNAV/GPS Runway 36 and RNAV/GPS Runway 6 approaches sound more like references to the local climate than sports.
At first I was surprised to see the FAA delving into politics. Hans Cathcart pointed out that DC area pilots are aware of an intersection called DUBYA, located in the Special Flight Rules Area that civilians usually can't fly into. One would think that has to go away soon after the change of administration there. But with a closer look, that waypoint is used as part of another theme. At Andrews AFB (KADW), the home of Air Force One, the waypoints for the RNAV/GPS Runway 19R approach (the right runway) are named for Republican presidents (the right-leaning party)... DUBYA, BUUSH, FORRD and RREGN. The left runway has an ILS approach with much older names. Already having a precision approach on the left runway, it's clear why there was a priority to add a GPS approach for the right runway. But when the left runway (19L) gets its new GPS approach, it's a fairly easy guess it'll get waypoints named for Democratic presidents (the left-leaning party). I noticed there is not yet an OBAMA waypoint in the system - so that's undoubtedly where it will go.
Another place where an Air Force Base has established a theme for its waypoints is Edwards AFB, the world-famous home of the Air Force Test Pilot School and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. On the RNAV/GPS Runway 4R approach, there are waypoints TESST, FLYTE, PNCHO, BARNZ (named for Pancho Barnes), the final approach fix at YAYGR (named for Chuck Yeager) and on the missed approach apparently you go into the future of test flight to KIIRK (presumably from Star Trek). The same runway in the other direction, the RNAV/GPS Runway 22L approach has interesting waypoints, XPLAN, STLTH, SONIQ and BOOOM. Of course, being a military base, these are approaches that we civilian pilots don't get to fly. Although I have twice gotten clearances to fly through Restricted Area R-2505 over Edwards AFB enroute to somewhere else. And some of the waypoints like TESST, FLYTE, PNCHO and BARNZ are outside R-2505 in airspace we civilians do use to go around it.
One of my local favorites that I've flown is SNUPY intersection next to the Charles Schultz Sonoma County Airport (KSTS) in Santa Rosa. On an instrument departure from there you'll probably be assigned the Santa Rosa Six departure procedure via SNUPY.
Want to find more of these? Just about everyone who talks about it has to mention the Looney Tunes Approach at Portsmouth. So you can just Google for "ITAWT ITAWA PUDYE TTATT" and there's plenty more reading.
But that's just the beginning of it. Another one in New Hampshire is at the Lebanon (KLEB) airport's ILS Runway 18 approach where an aircraft will sequence through the waypoints HAMMM BURGR and FRYYS.
More promotion of local cuisine can be found at Kansas City MO (MCI) on the ILS Runway 1R approach where the waypoints along the ILS final approach course are SPICY, BARBQ, TERKY, SMOKE and RIBBS.There's another kind of instrument procedure chart called a standard arrival or STAR. Larger airports and metropolitan areas have these to help sequence instrument arrivals farther out from the destination. For the Houston Hobby Airport (KHOU) and some other airports in the area, the TEXNN FOUR standard arrival procedure starts at the Cowboy VOR (CVE) near Dallas and then continues playing on the sports theme from there through these waypoints: ELLVR (player name), GOALL, PPUNT, DRPPD, FTBAL, CARRR (player name), TEXNN, COACH, QTRBK, TAKKL, RECVR, FMBLE and TCHDN which positions you for several approaches to Houston.
The sports theme seems to be popular with the FAA. At Portland, Oregon (KPDX) there are two waypoints on the ILS Runway 10L approach called TRAYL and BLAZR after the local NBA team.
Some online forums pointed out that Green Bay WI (KGRB) has a bunch of sports players' names among local waypoints. Although the Final Approach Fixes (FAFs) called FRZZN and TNDRA on the RNAV/GPS Runway 36 and RNAV/GPS Runway 6 approaches sound more like references to the local climate than sports.
At first I was surprised to see the FAA delving into politics. Hans Cathcart pointed out that DC area pilots are aware of an intersection called DUBYA, located in the Special Flight Rules Area that civilians usually can't fly into. One would think that has to go away soon after the change of administration there. But with a closer look, that waypoint is used as part of another theme. At Andrews AFB (KADW), the home of Air Force One, the waypoints for the RNAV/GPS Runway 19R approach (the right runway) are named for Republican presidents (the right-leaning party)... DUBYA, BUUSH, FORRD and RREGN. The left runway has an ILS approach with much older names. Already having a precision approach on the left runway, it's clear why there was a priority to add a GPS approach for the right runway. But when the left runway (19L) gets its new GPS approach, it's a fairly easy guess it'll get waypoints named for Democratic presidents (the left-leaning party). I noticed there is not yet an OBAMA waypoint in the system - so that's undoubtedly where it will go.
Another place where an Air Force Base has established a theme for its waypoints is Edwards AFB, the world-famous home of the Air Force Test Pilot School and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. On the RNAV/GPS Runway 4R approach, there are waypoints TESST, FLYTE, PNCHO, BARNZ (named for Pancho Barnes), the final approach fix at YAYGR (named for Chuck Yeager) and on the missed approach apparently you go into the future of test flight to KIIRK (presumably from Star Trek). The same runway in the other direction, the RNAV/GPS Runway 22L approach has interesting waypoints, XPLAN, STLTH, SONIQ and BOOOM. Of course, being a military base, these are approaches that we civilian pilots don't get to fly. Although I have twice gotten clearances to fly through Restricted Area R-2505 over Edwards AFB enroute to somewhere else. And some of the waypoints like TESST, FLYTE, PNCHO and BARNZ are outside R-2505 in airspace we civilians do use to go around it.One of my local favorites that I've flown is SNUPY intersection next to the Charles Schultz Sonoma County Airport (KSTS) in Santa Rosa. On an instrument departure from there you'll probably be assigned the Santa Rosa Six departure procedure via SNUPY.
Want to find more of these? Just about everyone who talks about it has to mention the Looney Tunes Approach at Portsmouth. So you can just Google for "ITAWT ITAWA PUDYE TTATT" and there's plenty more reading.
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