Plain English Meaning

Specific points on the map that you fly to, one after another, to make up your planned route.

Full Definition

Predefined geographic positions, identified by latitude and longitude, used to define a route of flight or progress along that route. Waypoints may be named fixes, navaids, intersections, or pilot-defined points entered into a GPS or flight management system.

Context Anchor

Seen during preflight route planning, on navigation logs, on charts, and in an airplane’s navigation system.

Derivation

From 'way' (path or route) plus 'point' (a specific location). The term came from marine navigation and was adopted into when GPS and made it easy to fly directly between any two defined points rather than only between -based navaids.