Narrative:

On our flight from to sfo; we discovered that the brand-new tipp toe visual approach to 28L has a waypoint in it that is not in our current FMC database. We at first attempted to build the arrival by inputting the waypoints in the CDU. 'Eddyy'; 'sidby' and all other waypoints were found; but the FMC responded with 'not in database' when we tried to input the waypoint 'chera'. We were able to see the airport well before reaching any of the points on this approach and were able to guess approximately; where 'chera' was based upon its apparent position abeam the second dumbarton bridge.we later discussed; however; that if we cannot exactly determine where chera is; how can we legally accept this approach? Chera is the point after which; the aircraft is to be turned to a 310 degree heading to intercept the 28L ILS course; so it is kind of important and there is no radial/DME or other specific info regarding its exact position. I would guess and hope that since this a new approach routing; that the chera waypoint is also new; and would be found in the next database update; but until then; it seems to me that we cannot fully accept this approach; unless there is something peculiar to charted visual approach procedures that I am unaware of. I mostly wanted to bring this to your attention.let our crews know whether we can legally accept this approach unless and until the chera waypoint is input into our database.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain reported that the brand-new Tipp Toe Visual Aprroach into SFO Runway 28L; has a waypoint that is not in the current FMC databse.

Narrative: On our flight from to SFO; we discovered that the brand-new Tipp Toe Visual Approach to 28L has a waypoint in it that is not in our current FMC database. We at first attempted to build the arrival by inputting the waypoints in the CDU. 'EDDYY'; 'SIDBY' and all other waypoints were found; but the FMC responded with 'NOT IN DATABASE' when we tried to input the waypoint 'CHERA'. We were able to see the airport well before reaching any of the points on this approach and were able to guess approximately; where 'CHERA' was based upon its apparent position abeam the second Dumbarton Bridge.We later discussed; however; that if we cannot exactly determine where CHERA is; how can we legally accept this approach? CHERA is the point after which; the aircraft is to be turned to a 310 degree heading to intercept the 28L ILS course; so it is kind of important and there is no radial/DME or other specific info regarding its exact position. I would guess and hope that since this a new approach routing; that the CHERA waypoint is also new; and would be found in the next database update; but until then; it seems to me that we cannot fully accept this approach; unless there is something peculiar to Charted Visual Approach Procedures that I am unaware of. I mostly wanted to bring this to your attention.Let our Crews know whether we can legally accept this approach unless and until the CHERA waypoint is input into our Database.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.