To arrive in Nashville, it takes PICKN and GRNIN and often a pass through HEHAW. It's the same for guitar players -- and pilots.
PICKN, GRNIN and HEHAW are fixed points in the sky that pilots use when they are flying into Nashville International Airport in Tennessee. Throughout the world, aviation authorities establish set routes to guide planes. They label key navigational points with unique identifiers, usually five-letter codes, called fixes. In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration has chosen to mark the skies with a sense of humor.
Airplanes approaching Newark International Airport in New Jersey toward the northeast will cross either HOWYA or DOOIN. Louisiana has RYTHM, Kentucky has BRBON and Massachusetts has BOSOX. Kansas City, Mo., has SPICY, BARBQ and RIBBS.
To pilots, Montpelier, Vt., is known for its HAMMM, BURGR and FRYYS. Andrews Air Force Base near Washington has a Republican bent these days, with an approach from the south that goes from FORRD to RREGN and one from the north that moves from DUBYA to BUUSH.
And if you fly the approach to runway 16 in Portsmouth, N.H., you might think you're in a Sylvester and Tweety Bird cartoon. The route takes you from ITAWT to ITAWA to PUDYE to TTATT. If a pilot can't land, he is told to hold by way of IDEED. ("I thought I saw a pussy cat. ... I did!")
It's not all Looney Tunes. The FAA says it creates memorable fixes to improve safety by making it easier for pilots to remember instructions and avoid flying the wrong route. Who's going to forget HOLDM near Las Vegas?
The FAA long assigned meaningless combinations of letters, some based on Morse code, to fixes, but began using five-letter pronounceable names in 1976. By international aviation standards, they have to be five letters.
Washington Post via The Post Gazette
PICKN, GRNIN and HEHAW are fixed points in the sky that pilots use when they are flying into Nashville International Airport in Tennessee. Throughout the world, aviation authorities establish set routes to guide planes. They label key navigational points with unique identifiers, usually five-letter codes, called fixes. In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration has chosen to mark the skies with a sense of humor.
Airplanes approaching Newark International Airport in New Jersey toward the northeast will cross either HOWYA or DOOIN. Louisiana has RYTHM, Kentucky has BRBON and Massachusetts has BOSOX. Kansas City, Mo., has SPICY, BARBQ and RIBBS.
To pilots, Montpelier, Vt., is known for its HAMMM, BURGR and FRYYS. Andrews Air Force Base near Washington has a Republican bent these days, with an approach from the south that goes from FORRD to RREGN and one from the north that moves from DUBYA to BUUSH.
And if you fly the approach to runway 16 in Portsmouth, N.H., you might think you're in a Sylvester and Tweety Bird cartoon. The route takes you from ITAWT to ITAWA to PUDYE to TTATT. If a pilot can't land, he is told to hold by way of IDEED. ("I thought I saw a pussy cat. ... I did!")
It's not all Looney Tunes. The FAA says it creates memorable fixes to improve safety by making it easier for pilots to remember instructions and avoid flying the wrong route. Who's going to forget HOLDM near Las Vegas?
The FAA long assigned meaningless combinations of letters, some based on Morse code, to fixes, but began using five-letter pronounceable names in 1976. By international aviation standards, they have to be five letters.
Washington Post via The Post Gazette
