KIAH Approach (Houston Intercontinental) question.

[DarthTurducken]

Any Houstonians here? This is my first post. Been listening to the KIAH Approach feed and sometimes the tower tells pilots they are "Four miles from..." or "120 knots to..." [what sounds like] "Kearns" or "Jepney". I may be misspelling them. I thought they might be cities near the airport along one of the glide paths but that doesn't really make sense. Perhaps it's a local thing, specific to KIAH. Any clues?

[RonR]

You are right, they are not cities.  Those points you mentioned are KERNS and JEPNI.  It looks like they are points along the final approach to KIAH runway 26L.  Have a look at the attached chart for the ILS Runway 26.  These points as well as a few others are along the extended centerline to runway 26L.  I hope this helps.

[DarthTurducken]

Yes! Thanks for the quick reply! I figured it was some sort of local code. Thanks for the map too. 

[DarthTurducken]

One more question please (I am not a pilot). How and by whom are these waypoint names decided? Is it the FAA? This Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waypoint#In_avition says they may be named after local landmarks, or could it be based on their proximity to the airport, or both? OK sorry that was one very long question :p

[davolijj]

I'd say it's about 50/50 as to whether the fix means anything or its just random.  Lately, with all the new GPS/RNAV approaches being developed they're starting to run out of pronounceable words to use so they tend to elect function over form.

I came across an interesting article on this subject in which the author, "I identified a number of word categories, which give you some hint about the kinds of people who are making up the words."

Sports fanatics: Near Boston, you have CELTS and BOSOX.  Only in Texas you find:  GOALL, PPUNT, DRPPD, FTBAL,TEXNN, COACH, QTRBK, TAKKL, RECVR, FMBLE and TCHDN. By Soldier Field; KUBBS and BEARS. In DC GIBBZ, SKINS, and MONKK. In Portland, the pair of TRAYL and BLAZR, balanced by the highbrow OMMSI,(Portland's Oregon Museum of Science & Industry) and POWLZ (the incredible Powell's Bookstore).

Foodies: Near Kansas City, you get the regional SPICY, BARBQ, TERKY, SMOKE and RIBBS. And in Vermont and New Hampshire,  HAMMM BURGR FRYYS

Guys or maybe Girls (I’m guessing the names are for girlfriends): SUSAN, SUSIE, SUSIQ, SUZAN, SUZEE, SUZEY, SUZIE, SUZIQ, SUZYQ, SUZYY, LIZIE, LIZZE, LIZZY, LIZZZ, ANNEE, ANNEY, ANNNE, ANNII, ANNYE.

Political junkies: By Andrews Air Force Base, you find DUBYA, BUUSH, FORRD, RREGN. No Democrats so far.