Naming IFR fixes after celebrities and notable landmarks is a common practice, but renaming them due to political controversy is not. However, that’s going to be the case with three waypoints for West Palm Beach International named after the real estate mogul and would-be presidential candidate: DONLD, TRMMP and UFIRD. The FAA said this week it’s going to change those fixes in the wake of Trump’s comments about immigrants during his campaign for the Republican nomination, according to a New York Times report. “In general, the FAA chooses names that are noncontroversial,” FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown told the newspaper.
The fixes are part of KPBI’s IVNKA ONE departure procedure, which is named after Trump’s daughter Ivanka. They were named in 2010 by a controller and fan of Trump’s reality show, according to the Palm Beach Post. Trump, who owns an estate that sits below flight paths at KPBI, flies in and out of the airport regularly and was honored after learning of the waypoints in his name, according to the Post’s 2010 report. By contrast, he’s had a contentious relationship with airport authorities for years. He has sued the county over aircraft noise and in January filed a lawsuit arguing that flights are being deliberately directed over his property, according to the Times.
