Have you taken a look at a low IFR enroute chart lately? Specifically, note the five-letter designations for IFR fixes, which are geographic positions determined by reference to navaids or lat/long coordinates. You may find yourself wondering if the people in charge of coming up with the designations are using the tiles from a Scrabble game to name the fixes.
According to the FAA, the designations come from the agency’s Aeronautical Information Services (AIS) office located in Silver Springs, Maryland. Their job is to issue five-letter names for radio fixes, waypoints, marker beacons, and compass locators.
