Definition
A painted circle on an airport surface, typically on a taxiway or ramp, marking a precise location where a pilot can park the aircraft and check the accuracy of the onboard VOR navigation receiver against a published bearing and distance from a nearby VOR station. The marking is a solid white circle, about 6 feet in diameter, with a white arrow inside pointing toward the VOR station. The exact location, the published radial, and the tolerance are listed in the Chart Supplement.
Plain English
A painted spot on the ground at an airport that tells you exactly where to park so you can test whether your aircraft's navigation receiver is reading correctly. If you sit on this spot, the receiver should show a specific bearing to the nearby navigation station; if it doesn't match within the allowed tolerance, the receiver isn't accurate enough to use for navigation.
Context Anchor
Seen on some airport pavement and listed for use when checking a VOR receiver before or during instrument flying operations.
Derivation
VOR stands for Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range, a ground-based navigation station. A 'checkpoint' is simply a known point used to verify something — here, the accuracy of the receiver in the aircraft.
Why Pilots Care
Confirms the VOR receiver meets accuracy standards before flight and satisfies regulatory requirements for navigation equipment verification.
Grounding Statement
At the marked spot, the airplane is in a known position, so the VOR indication should match the published value for that location.
Intuition Check
Do not assume these markings are general taxi or parking guidance. They exist specifically to check the accuracy of the aircraft’s VOR receiver from a known ground point.
Example Sentence 1
Before the IFR cross-country, the pilot taxied onto the VOR receiver checkpoint marking and confirmed the indicated radial was within tolerance of the value published in the Chart Supplement.
Example Sentence 2
Before departure the crew used the VOR receiver checkpoint markings to confirm the equipment was within acceptable tolerance.