Definition
A fix or point on an arrival route where an aircraft transitions from en route flight onto an arrival procedure, typically marking the location where the aircraft begins descent or speed adjustments to meet the constraints of a Standard Terminal Arrival Route (STAR) or Optimized Profile Descent (OPD).
Plain English
The point in the sky where your en route flight ends and your arrival into the destination airport begins. It's the handover point from cruise to descent.
Context Anchor
Seen in ATC routing and arrival discussions, especially when a flight is being connected from en route airspace to an arrival route.
Derivation
From everyday English — a 'catch point' is where something is caught or picked up. Here, it's where the arrival procedure 'catches' the aircraft from the en route structure and brings it into the terminal area.
Why Pilots Care
Helps maintain safe spacing during arrivals by giving controllers and pilots a shared reference for when one aircraft should overtake another.
Intuition Check
Do not read “catch point” as a place where the airplane catches up to another airplane. In this FAA use, it means a navigation point where one kind of route changes into the arrival route structure.
Example Sentence 1
We briefed the descent before reaching the catch point so we'd be ready to start down on the STAR.
Example Sentence 2
On the RNAV arrival, identifying the catch point allowed both aircraft to adjust speeds smoothly without vectoring.