from Hacker News

The Naughty Words the FAA Removed from the Sky

by Plasmoid on 5/29/24, 6:15 PM with 45 comments

  • by wannacboatmovie on 5/29/24, 11:48 PM

    This is a complete waste of taxpayer dollars. If I'm reading correctly the Florida waypoints referenced were renamed because a busybody NY Times reporter complained?

  • by syncsynchalt on 5/30/24, 1:06 AM

    Zooming into my local area is a fun bit of puzzling over some of the changes.

    I guess I see why XXWNG is changed to EXWNG (less ambiguous), but why is Colorado's BRNKO changed to VONNN? (edit: aha, maybe local hero Lindsey Vonn) HASHE is changed to JURKY, maybe because the former could be a drug reference to Colorado, and HIPPE is changed (though it was in a decidedly non-crunchy part of Colorado).

    FLAIL became DEELO, and if I was forced to guess it's because saying "flail" over a radio would be something I'd tend to slowly overpronounce. CENTN was presumably changed because it's almost the name of the nearest airport (KAPA, Centennial Airport).

  • by crtasm on 5/30/24, 1:07 AM

  • by jimbobthrowawy on 5/30/24, 6:37 AM

    Is there a time limit before these can be reused somewhere else? I assume it's not immediate, or it might cause confusion. Most of these names are only bad because of the area they're over.

    I appreciate the creativity put into some of these though, I assume that makes most of the notable navpoints more memorable.

  • by Optimal_Persona on 5/30/24, 12:22 AM

    I'm sure Philadelphians were glad that JAWNS from the SouthEast US got renamed!

  • by therockspush on 5/30/24, 1:17 AM

    Looks like DROWN is still out there.

    https://opennav.com/waypoint/US/DROWN

  • by happyjack on 5/30/24, 3:27 AM

    My all time favorite is HPSTR waypoint outside PDX.

  • by gedy on 5/30/24, 12:58 AM

    Many of these aren't obviously problems?

    KOYEV TFTBP IPNAW etc.

  • by buildsjets on 5/29/24, 11:43 PM

  • by hahajk on 5/30/24, 12:57 AM

    Nothing gold can stay...

    > Southwest of Cleveland, OH, there was a cluster of now removed waypoints: WHHAT, THATZ and MYMOM.

  • by ungreased0675 on 5/30/24, 4:15 AM

    What I’m getting from this story is that the FAA has too many employees and too much money.

  • by hiccuphippo on 5/30/24, 12:28 AM

    YIYUY -> CFVKH

    How do you even spell that.

  • by ralph84 on 5/30/24, 3:42 AM

    At one point there was a FUBAR waypoint near Phoenix.

  • by gs17 on 5/30/24, 2:51 AM

    > Therefore, there offensive and derogatory nature went unnoticed until the recent comments of Donald Trump’s speech.

    I'm not quite sure what they mean by that. If the sequence was TRMMP DPORT MXCNS maybe.

  • by thecosmicfrog on 5/30/24, 7:55 AM

    SFO has some appropriately Silicon Valley-themed waypoints: the SSTIK5 departure procedure has "CISKO", "EBAYE" and "UTOOB". SFO also has the SNTNA2 departure which has "KYNNG", "KRLOS" and "SNTNA" (in that order).

    LAS has the GAMES2 arrival which has "FUULL", "HOUZZ" and "BYNGO".

    My personal favourites, however, are at Philadelphia (PHL), where there are there two arrivals named after cheesesteak restaurants: JIIMS4 and PAATS4.