One of the things that I love about a really good newspaper or magazine -- when you read about something you had never heard anything about, and it uncovers a whole new world that you've never even thought about.  (Yes, Horatio, there are more things in heaven and earth, &c, &c).

This is why I subscribe to the New Yorker, for instance.  And why I read good newspapers.  I was especially tickled to read this article in today's Wall Street Journal, about the FAA's names for aircraft-navigation fixes:

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. . .

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?

ADDENDUM:  A pilot friend writes that Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has SMOKN, and that Charlotte has NASCR.  And apparently, there used to be one called DOOBY on the Florida coast, which was removed during the war on drugs.  (So, I guess you could be cleared to "pass DOOBY on the left-hand-side"?)

ANOTHER ADDENDUM:  Here's the complete list of fixes.

Comments

[dana]

Dangit, available to subscribers only. Sounds interesting, though!

[Ayelet]

Love it. This is the kind of geeky shit that totally makes my day. I'm going to check out the link.

[Vidiot]

Dana, check your e-mail.

[czeltic girl]

That's fantastic. I love learning about this kind of stuff. Wonder what kinds of fixes we have in the Milwaukee/Chicago area.