When I was learning to fly, part of learning to navigate was reading an aeronautical chart. Today you can download them for free to your phone, and if you use the right software you can even have a little plane icon on the chart to show you where you are.
Air traffic controllers direct planes to and from “fixes”, points marked on the chart. A fix is named with a five letter word that often doesn’t have enough vowels in it, like IKEA furniture. They’re assigned by a division in the FAA, according to a dry sounding procedure, FAA Order JO 7400.2H.
Looking at a chart on a trip to Cleveland a couple years ago (I wasn’t flying – I was on an airliner), I saw an intersection named LEBRN. LEBRN makes sense for Cleveland – or at least it did at the time. But it didn’t occur to me to check fix names here in California until now.
The HLYWD ONE arrival to LAX contains the fixes GABBL, CHPLN, NWMAN, ESTWD, MCQWN, MDLER, FNNDA and MNROE. The ANJLL FOUR arrival has HAKMN, CGNEY, SLLRS, SHTNR, FLOJO, GLESN, OTOOL, BCALL, LEMMN and CAANN. The BOGET TWO arrival adds SNTRA, but also WNCHL, GLAZD, CREME, COWWS and CHKNZ. Also in LA there’s a HUULL. Going from BIKNG to RUNNN takes you to IRNMN. There’s a LAAVA next to LAAMP, and a UCANN next to DOUIT. You can arrive in San Diego via LUCKI LYNDI.
San Francisco arrivals from the wine country may pass through MRRLO, MLBEC, MSCAT or CORKK. You might arrive on SERFR, NRRLI, WWAVS and EPICK. You’ll find RAIDR near San Rafael, and SNUPY near Santa Rosa. A Deadhead could fly TYDYE TRUKN GRTFL DEDHD COSMC while a venture capitalist flies SILCN VLLEY APLLE GGUGL The last two I found at aerosavvy.com, along with this note: there were apparently some fixes near Palm Beach named DNNLD, TRMMP and UFIRD, but the rumor is the FAA renamed them after pilots refused to fly them or the IVNKA arrival.
It seems LeBron’s waypoint is gone now, too. I guess navigation fix fame isn’t as permanent or as visible as a star along Hollywood Boulevard, but no one will attack your monument with a jackhammer or let their dog poop on it.