Air traffic controllers have taken a stand—not over pay, hours, or pension reform, but over five-letter waypoint codes that sound suspiciously like playground insults.
Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), faced with a quiet but firm refusal by staff to utter certain names aloud, will rename six UK aviation markers deemed “inappropriate” after complaints that they raised eyebrows, if not safety risks.
Among the soon-to-be-banished waypoints are PIKEY (a racial slur), UTITI (self-explanatory), and OKNOB (ditto), along with the equally suspect COXPE and RATPU. According to a CAA circular seen by the Telegraph, the markers were “deliberately mispronounced” by some offended/embarrassed controllers—while others refused to repeat them. While this created minor procedural snags, it also created major HR ones.
The codes in question—known in the industry as five-letter name codes, or 5LNCs—were mostly assigned in the 1970s, a time when humour was looser, paperwork was thicker, and apparently no one foresaw cockpit banter becoming a matter of national regulatory concern.
The CAA conceded the selection process was subjective, but hoped the changes would “be more in tune with the wider social climate.”
Though the current system relies on computers to generate “easily pronounceable” gibberish, the 1970s era had its quirks. PIKEY, for instance, was allegedly part of a marine-themed batch alongside SHARK and PERCH. Other legacy names include naval nods (HAWKE, HARDY) and forestry references (WILLO, TIMBA).
