Narrative:

On a 30 flow at sat; the OM for ILS runway 30L is commonly used for navigation. The OM for ILS runway 30L is wakks. Wakks is commonly used; especially from the south and northeast; when vectoring off the arrival(s) for a visual approach to runway 30L. Aircraft are cleared direct wakks and asked to report the sat airport in sight. A new RNAV arrival was established effective september 2010; the RODIO1 arrival. There are transitions off the RODIO1 for 3 of the 4 flows into sat. The transition in a 30 flow calls for aircraft to over fly troop then proceed direct wexel. Wakks and wexel are continuously being confused by the pilots. In the 7 days of existence; I have personally witnessed no less than 6 instances where pilots are cleared direct wakks and they erroneously turn toward wexel; which puts them in close proximity to rnd air force base. This morning's occurrence happened while I was working position. In addition; we have procedures coordinated between north radar (apn) and randolph radar (apr) where a pilot's mis-navigation could result in a highly dangerous situation with rnd traffic. The wexel identifier needs to be changed immediately. In addition; name duplication will be sure to cause a problem in another area. We have the BOWIE4 departure which has two transitions; the milet transition and the three rivers transition. A couple of RNAV departures have been developed in the same directions and; you guessed it; the departures are called the milet departure and the three rivers departure. We work hard with the airlines to ensure we don't have similar sounding call signs in the same general area. There is no good explanation for 'setting us up' with similar sounding procedures. Recommendation; change the name for the way point wexel and change the names/or transition for the milet departure/BOWIE4 milet transition and the three rivers departure/BOWIE4 three rivers transition.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SAT Controller voiced concern regarding several similar sounding intersection names; that often result in aircraft navigating to the wrong fix.

Narrative: On a 30 flow at SAT; the OM for ILS Runway 30L is commonly used for navigation. The OM for ILS Runway 30L is WAKKS. WAKKS is commonly used; especially from the South and Northeast; when vectoring off the arrival(s) for a visual approach to Runway 30L. Aircraft are cleared direct WAKKS and asked to report the SAT airport in sight. A new RNAV arrival was established effective September 2010; the RODIO1 Arrival. There are transitions off the RODIO1 for 3 of the 4 flows into SAT. The transition in a 30 Flow calls for aircraft to over fly TROOP then proceed direct WEXEL. WAKKS and WEXEL are continuously being confused by the pilots. In the 7 days of existence; I have personally witnessed no less than 6 instances where pilots are cleared direct WAKKS and they erroneously turn toward WEXEL; which puts them in close proximity to RND Air Force Base. This morning's occurrence happened while I was working position. In addition; we have procedures coordinated between North RADAR (APN) and Randolph RADAR (APR) where a pilot's mis-navigation could result in a highly dangerous situation with RND traffic. The WEXEL identifier needs to be changed immediately. In addition; name duplication will be sure to cause a problem in another area. We have the BOWIE4 departure which has two transitions; the MILET transition and the THREE RIVERS transition. A couple of RNAV departures have been developed in the same directions and; you guessed it; the departures are called the MILET Departure and the THREE RIVERS Departure. We work hard with the airlines to ensure we don't have similar sounding call signs in the same general area. There is no good explanation for 'setting us up' with similar sounding procedures. Recommendation; change the name for the way point WEXEL and change the names/or transition for the MILET Departure/BOWIE4 MILET Transition and the THREE RIVERS Departure/BOWIE4 THREE RIVERS Transition.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.