Johnson's Corner

Johnson's Corner is a spot in the Pacific Ocean where routine flights between mainland USA and Hawaii would turn from one heading to another. The spot is otherwise empty.

Pacific Ocean navigation was difficult in the early days of aviation. It often involved flying long distances to small islands. The basic procedure, called dead reckoning, was to fly a constant heading for a specified time, and then look for and expect to find the target, but that was inefficient.

The most efficient course to fly would have been to follow a great circle route, but that was effectively impossible given the available navigation aids, so a compromise was often made to divide the route into two parts, or rhumb lines: fly a constant heading for a specified time, then turn to a new heading, fly for a specified time, and expect to find the target.