San Francisco International Airport’s Takeoff Navigation Point Names Are Grateful Dead-Themed

April 4, 2016


The FAA officials at San Francisco International Airport have named the SFO airport’s routes navigation points, often called “waypoints,” with terms associated with the Grateful Dead, according to the SFGate.

Waypoints are target points in the air for a plane along a departure or landing route at an airport and are frequently named as an ode to the local culture of the destination city. At SFO, the airport uses terms like “TRUCKN2” and “GRTFL,” “DEDHD,” “TYDYE,” “HYPEE” and “COSMC.” 

Unfortunately, these codes are rarely ever verbally communicated, as FAA Pacific Division Public Affairs Manager Ian Gregor told SFGate, “Pilots would not normally have any reason to comment on the waypoints.”