WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Question:  On a recent United flight to DFW I was listening to the way-cool feature that lets you hear the pilot communications.  They were told to land "direct to zing."  What does this mean?
 
Thanks!
 
Robert Gillespie, Ft. Worth, TX

Answer:  It’s actually spelled “ZINGG” and it’s a “fix” on final approach to RWY 17C (Center) at DFW Airport.

A fix is a way for pilots and controllers to identify a specific airborne spot and is generally either a specific measured distance from a known point or the intersection of two airways.

Think of a fix like this:  If you wanted to meet a friend on Main St., how would they know where on Main St.?  They wouldn’t.  However, if you asked them to meet you at the corner of Main St. and Broadway, that’s a specific “fix.”

Or, you could ask someone to wait for you at mile 123 on Highway 6.  Again, that’s a specific place with no room for interpretation as to where on Highway 6 you meant.

Airborne fix names have five letters.  Some have meaning, like BULLZ in the Chicago area (for the Chicago Bulls).  Others may have no apparent meaning, but must be pronounceable and not just a random string of consonants.

My favorite fix names are the ones on final landing to the north on RWY 1R (Right) at Kansas City.  The fixes inbound, in order, are SPICY, BARBQ, RIBBS, then MM (for Middle Marker, an ILS component).  Look at the profile view at the bottom of this approach plate:   (HYPERLINK TO SPICY)
http://flightaware.com/resources/airport/MCI/IAP/ILS+RWY+01R/pdf

I once asked a Kansas City controller how the names came to be, and he said the names were decided upon at a lunch meeting.  I probably could have figured that out on my own anyway but I couldn’t resist asking the controller riding on my   B-727 cockpit jumpseat years ago.

Another one of my favorite names is YONDR, coming into Denver.  When first checking in with a controller, a pilot may say something like, “Denver Approach, United 123 is with you out of 12 for 10 (meaning the pilot is in a descent out of twelve thousand to level off at ten thousand).  A report regarding the plane’s position is generally unnecessary since we’re on radar.  However, I always enjoyed the notion of checking in “over YONDR,” forty miles northeast of Denver on one of the published Arrival charts.

To see ZINNG, the fix asked about in this week’s question, click below.  It’s identified as 9.6 miles from I-FLQ.  The “I” stands for “ILS” and “FLQ” is the identifier for that specific ILS.  The pilot can positively identify that the ILS is reliable and for the correct runway by either listening to the Morse code identifier or, in more modern aircraft, by seeing the letters IFLQ on a cockpit display:
http://flightaware.com/resources/airport/DFW/IAP/ILS+RWY+17C(CAT+III)/pdf    (HYPERLINK TO ZINGG)