Numbered Visual Waypoints

Lon33

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Lon
Foreflight has several “VFR Waypoints” with names that begin with VP and end with three numbers, like “VP590” for Malibu Beach. Are “VP###” names assigned by the FAA, or do they come from somewhere else? (Jeppesen charts, maybe?) They do not appear on FAA charts. I’ve seen them only in Foreflight.
 
Foreflight has several “VFR Waypoints” with names that begin with VP and end with three numbers, like “VP590” for Malibu Beach. Are “VP###” names assigned by the FAA, or do they come from somewhere else? (Jeppesen charts, maybe?) They do not appear on FAA charts. I’ve seen them only in Foreflight.

Interesting, I’ve got a theory, but I’m a Garmin Pilot guy, not Foreflight. VP590 doesn’t exist in GP.

Some Visual waypoints are assigned a VP*** name on the TAC or sectional charts and some aren’t. In the example below, SLAC/Linear accelerator is assigned VPSLA. I can enter VPSLA into my 430 and also Garmin Pilot. However, Stanford Stadium, which is also marked with a flag thingie, does not have a VP name assigned. Can’t enter it into either my 430 or GP. My theory is that Foreflight has assigned the VPnumber name to the visual waypoints like Stanford Stadium which don’t already have a name. Since I don’t have Foreflight, I can’t test the theory. Maybe one of you Foreflight users can check and report back?

5a839691f279595b326ffad16f2db4ef.jpg



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Another example, also from the SF Bay area which contains several VP-named visual reference points and several not named with the VP nomenclature. Would be interesting to see if Foreflight has assigned VPnumber names to the ones without standard VP names.
8fc5744192b0b15e1eee65e628786c8a.jpg




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Interesting, I’ve got a theory, but I’m a Garmin Pilot guy, not Foreflight. VP590 doesn’t exist in GP.

Some Visual waypoints are assigned a VP*** name on the TAC or sectional charts and some aren’t. In the example below, SLAC/Linear accelerator is assigned VPSLA. I can enter VPSLA into my 430 and also Garmin Pilot. However, Stanford Stadium, which is also marked with a flag thingie, does not have a VP name assigned. Can’t enter it into either my 430 or GP. My theory is that Foreflight has assigned the VPnumber name to the visual waypoints like Stanford Stadium which don’t already have a name. Since I don’t have Foreflight, I can’t test the theory. Maybe one of you Foreflight users can check and report back?

5a839691f279595b326ffad16f2db4ef.jpg



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That's it. I've been sitting here clicking on 'un fixed' magenta flags and they all got a VP###. Then I started making routes using VP### waypoints at random. They all end up over those VFR reporting points that don't have a Waypoint designator.
 
The VFR reporting points around Fargo are VC### in ForeFlight. Oddly, that includes the one directly on the Hawley airport (04Y), which is VC872.
 
That's it. I've been sitting here clicking on 'un fixed' magenta flags and they all got a VP###. Then I started making routes using VP### waypoints at random. They all end up over those VFR reporting points that don't have a Waypoint designator.

Well, cool. Nice to see my theory was right. Thanks for confirming. Not sure, however, how useful this is as a practical matter. Wonder why Foreflight did this? I know that Garmin’s Flightstream products allow Foreflight to upload and download flightplans to Garmin Navigators (I have a FlightStream connected to my 430w, and it’s great). Maybe Foreflight has done this to add a bit of flexibility to flight plans?

[Edit] I want to make clear that the flight plans to which I am referring in the above are Foreflight Flight plans and not ones that might be filed. It’s pretty clear that visual waypoints can’t be included in IFR flight plans. I have no idea about VFR flight plans. Never filed one of those.


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Well, cool. Nice to see my theory was right. Thanks for confirming. Not sure, however, how useful this is as a practical matter. Wonder why Foreflight did this? I know that Garmin’s Flightstream products allow Foreflight to upload and download flightplans to Garmin Navigators (I have a FlightStream connected to my 430w, and it’s great). Maybe Foreflight has done this to add a bit of flexibility to flight plans?

[Edit] I want to make clear that the flight plans to which I am referring in the above are Foreflight Flight plans and not ones that might be filed. It’s pretty clear that visual waypoints can’t be included in IFR flight plans. I have no idea about VFR flight plans. Never filed one of those.


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I tried to file one. KSBA VP590 KSMO. It wouldn't accept it. Said waypoint after KSBA is unrecognized
 
I tried to file one. KSBA VP590 KSMO. It wouldn't accept it. Said waypoint after KSBA is unrecognized

Sorry to be pedantic, but when you say you tried to file it, you were submitting it to Duats or Leidos, or you just tried to create it in Foreflight?

If you tried to actually file it, I wouldn’t expect it to work as an IFR flight plan; was that what you tried to file, or was it a VFR flight plan?



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Sorry to be pedantic, but when you say you tried to file it, you were submitting it to Duats or Leidos, or you just tried to create it in Foreflight?

If you tried to actually file it, I wouldn’t expect it to work as an IFR flight plan; was that what you tried to file, or was it a VFR flight plan?



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I "file" it. I did it through ForeFlight, but I didn't just create a route there. I filed it. Took about 2-3 seconds for me to get the notification that it had been rejected. Didn't surprise me.
 
The VFR reporting points around Fargo are VC### in ForeFlight. Oddly, that includes the one directly on the Hawley airport (04Y), which is VC872.
There's a VC119 down around Denver that's not an airport. There's a VP907 out in Californy that is an airport but it's private. I can't find a logic for when they use VC or VP. Maybe it's just that there's more than a thousand of them and they had to come up with something so they spun the wheel and it landed on C
 
I "file" it. I did it through ForeFlight, but I didn't just create a route there. I filed it. Took about 2-3 seconds for me to get the notification that it had been rejected. Didn't surprise me.

Interesting. Seems like the smart thing for Foreflight to do would be to replace their pseudo-named waypoints with Lat/Long coordinates when actually filing. Lat/Long coordinates are accepted as part of a flight plan so that would work.


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Interesting. Seems like the smart thing for Foreflight to do would be to replace their pseudo-named waypoints with Lat/Long coordinates when actually filing. Lat/Long coordinates are accepted as part of a flight plan so that would work.


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It gives you all of them. Go to VP907. It's that and it is CA93 and it is 37 24.48N/121 06.56W. Choose what you want. VP907 isn't going to work to file a flight plan though
 
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