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  Initial Waypoints for Flights Leaving Halifax

Last updated NOVEMBER 8, 2016

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When aircraft take off from Halifax they are usually en route to a landing somewhere else.   For some nearby airports ATC will clear the aircraft after takeoff immediately to a point in that other airport’s vicinity.   If the other airport is farther away the flight will be in legs, with each leg defined by points along the way.  In these cases, ATC will clear the aircraft to the endpoint of the first leg.   For example it is very common for aircraft heading towards Toronto to be cleared to fly direct to Millinocket in Maine soon after takeoff.    A distant (or not so distant) point such as this is what I refer to here as an initial waypoint.  Once reaching Millinocket, in this example, the aircraft will be cleared by ATC to its next waypoint farther along its route.   Note that Millinocket is an initial waypoint in this case but for another aircraft on another route it could be a second or third or greater waypoint.

Waypoints are also used locally around airports for landing approaches but in this article I am referring only to en route waypoints.    In a modern airliner there is a database of all such waypoints, and the pilot need only dial in the correct abbreviation and the required heading will be displayed, or on autopilot the aircraft will on its own head that way.

The waypoints are really of two main types.  

Radio Aid Defined Waypoints

These are points that are defined by a radio navigation aid that exists on the ground.  Most commonly these are VOR’s of various sorts.  VOR’s are VHF Omni Directional Radio Ranges that might in very rudimentary language be classified as "beacons".   Aircraft with VOR equipment could fly towards or away from these beacons.     Similarly the waypoint could be a radio beacon operating in the MF radio spectrum below 530 kHz.    In the spectrum higher than that occupied by the VOR are the UHF beacons operated by or for the military which are called TACANS.  TACAN is an acronym for Tactical Air Navigation.    In some cases a VOR and TACAN are collocated and are referred together as a VORTAC. 

VOR’s and TACANS are identified by three letter codes.   For example the Millinocket example used above was not the town of Millinocket but rather the Millinocket VOR and its ID is MLT.  ATC will commonly use the name rather than the 3-letter ID but you will hear both.   While an aircraft could fly to or from MLT using its VOR equipment, it is more likely that it is only the coordinates of the VOR that are used by the GPS navigation system in the aircraft.  

Virtual Waypoints

Many waypoints are merely points on the earth’s surface that are defined by coordinates but there is nothing there that is relevant to a navigator.   For example a waypoint of this sort could be situated out in the ocean.    There is no beacon to home into in this case.   An example of a commonly assigned virtual waypoint in our region is ALLEX, situated on the border between Canada and the United States south of Grand Manan Island.     All of these virtual waypoints are identified by pronounceable five letter acronyms.    Some of them by coincidence will be actual words in English or another language, but most are not.  Many times they are pronounced like real words but spelled differently.     ALLEX is a case in point.  

It Doesn’t Matter Really
 

The fact that some waypoints are “beacons” and some are not is of little or no importance in a modern aircraft.   It is the coordinates that matter.  The pilot chooses the waypoint by its ID by entering it, and the aircraft will fly to it, or if nothing else will tell the pilot which way to fly.  One might say, why even have the physical radio aids then?   Well, they are to some extent dying out but there remain many aircraft that must rely on them, or would use them in the event of a failure of the GPS system.    They are likely to be around for quite a while yet but practically every month one or more of them in North America is decommissioned.

The Map

This map depicts most of the waypoints assigned to aircraft soon after taking off from Halifax.   You will note that some are near the actual destination airport for the flight.   For example an aircraft leaving Halifax and heading to Moncton will likely be “cleared to the Moncton VOR”.   Note that this is not actually the Moncton airport but it is close.  Once in the vicinity the controllers for that area will take over and guide the aircraft to its landing.     

A few of the points shown are only rarely if ever used nowadays.  At one point it was very common to hear aircraft heading to Boston to be cleared “direct SCUPP” but for some reason this waypoint is now rarely used, though it does still exist.    Similarly, MAIRE, near Montreal, was commonly used.    More recently the use of Kennebunk (ENE, the Kennebunk VOR) has fallen out of favour.   Others rise in prominence, such as MOWND, near Fredericton, which is heard every day.    Much of this has to do with the needs and preferences of airline dispatchers, based on aircraft performance and other factors.

This map is based on a Skyvector online rendition of an FAA World IFR chart.  I have added the symbols and “names”. 

Note that Millinocket is an extremely common initial waypoint for aircraft heading to Toronto from Halifax.  Presque Ile, farther north, is commonly used by aircraft heading to Western Canada from Halifax.