Most all large airports have 3 dimensional routes that aircraft follow to get into position to land. The first part is the Standard Terminal Arrival (STAR) and the final leg is the Instrument Approach. STARS can be hundreds of miles long and allow a predictable sequencing process for both ATC and aircraft.
Approaches have many variations, using radios or Global Positioning Systems to align the aircraft into position to land in all weather conditions. On both STARS and Instrument Approaches, there are waypoints that require a 5-letter designation. Given so many airports, so many waypoints, and the humor or passion of the person naming the waypoints, there are some funny and interesting name sequences.
Here are 3 STARS and 2 Approaches that I have flown multiple times.
#5 – NIIXX 1 Arrival into Denver
As a lover of music – who can resist this sequencing?
#4 – SCBBY 2 Arrival into Ontario, CA
Paying homage to Saturday morning cartoons (completely dating my childhood), the Scooby 2 Arrival into Ontario is always fun!
#3 – JJEDI 2 Arrival into Atlanta
Not the only Star Wars fanatics around – thanks to the namer of these waypoints!
#2 – RNAV to Runway 16 at Portsmouth, NH
More Saturday cartoons! Apparently those cartoons influenced a bunch of us!!!
#1 – RNAV to Runway 1 Right in Kansas City
Had to give props to an extremely familiar city and near home! Well, and who doesn’t love Barbeque?
That just scratches the surface of awesome naming for those of us slipping the surly bonds of earth for a living!!!
Do you have any favorite arrivals or instrument approaches?
Note: Do not utilize any of these approach plates for navigation. They are shared for illustrative purposes only.
