Callsigns

[frostbite]

Occasionally I hear something like 'Intergalactic 02' making an initial call.

When told to pass their details, it's often a PA28 or C152 or similar.

Is there some rational reason for such aircraft having these callsigns, or just the airborne equivalent of personal number plates?

[172driver]

It can be a company callsign. Some bigger FTOs have these, hence the occasional somewhat grandiose sounding initial call

[BigAl's]

There's one you hear down this neck of the woods...'Blackadder 02'.

Now that's what I call a cunning callsign.

Sorry! :E

[davidatter708]

Its for the ponsy people who want to sound posh I know of a person who as a number of planes and has commander 01 and commander 02. I think it would be interesting to have david 01 and stuff unfortunatley i dont have my own aircraft oh well
David

[combineharvester]

A fairly recent list of Callsigns in civillian use can be found here:

http://www.airlinecodes.co.uk/callsign.asp

[TST Tom]

A lot of flying schools have their own callsigns too, so that ATC know an instructor is on board regardless of the a/c registration.

At Kemble for example it was Pegasus01 for the microlight CFI and Pegasus02 for the AFI.

Kemble06 was a Hawker Hunter operated by Delta Jets. I always kept a good lookout when he was inbound!

[Zulu Alpha]

So can you just make one up and use it.

I'd like "aerobatics one" ...can I just start using it tomorrow?

[Whirlygig]

So can you just make one up and use it.

I'd like "aerobatics one" ...can I just start using it tomorrow?
No. You have to jump through all sorts of CAA hoops to get your own personal call-sign; I believe they don't even issue them anymore to individuals, only aircraft. Even then, there is probably a wealth of form-filling and a fat fee to pay.

Cheers

Whirls

[spekesoftly]

Reminds me of an amusing R/T exchange I heard at the old Speke Airport in the mid 70s during their annual Air Display. The Mosquito had just called for start, and ATC queried what callsign the pilot would be using for his display. Back came the pilot's reply: "Mosquito, it'll be Mosquito!"

[The Nr Fairy]

Whirlygig:

Not quite - ICAO controls callsign allocation, and you can send them a form with a choice of names and they'll see which is suitable. Bear in mind it's possible that callsigns on one aircraft might be heard in London on on day and Sydney the next, hence the global co-ordination.

I seem to remember it's free, too.

As an aside, I was pleasure flying at an airshow some years ago, and was asked to use the callsign "Jetranger" - made it easier for all the f/w folks to see and identify me. There were times when I was asked to stop flying - sometimes the display pilots were ok with me flying a deconflicted route away and back from the airfield, sometimes not. On about the fourth call for start, I asled for a callsign change to "Optimist 1" - got to go flying too !

[SkyHawk-N]

I remember 'Strike1' and 'Strike2', the Jet Provosts at Norwich International Airport. From a practical point of view those callsigns just roll off the tongue.

[Darth_Bovine]

I remember 'Strike1' and 'Strike2', the Jet Provosts at Norwich International Airport. From a practical point of view those callsigns just roll off the tongue.

The next two in the sequence being:
"Strike3" and
"Yer Out!"

:}

[flyingfemme]

I believe they don't even issue them anymore to individuals, only aircraft. Even then, there is probably a wealth of form-filling and a fat fee to pay.

A callsign is for a company or organisation, not an aircraft. The whole point is that ATC know (and can bill) the operator, not the owner.
It is to make things easy for everyone:
The crew don't have to remember a different reg no each time.
The passengers (if it's an airline) don't need to know the reg, just the route.
ATC can recognise a route from a flight number and have been known to coordinate flights for the same company.
Eurocontrol can bill the correct people first time instead of chasing owners and/or former owners.
Dispatch/accounts can tell who flew the flight if you use a pilot-identifying flight number or the date if you use that as the number or even the aircraft type.
It is/or was free if you can convince the CAA/ICAO that you have a good reason for having one. We got ours to simplify the job of the charge-collectors at the Nav Service providers....our callsign means that the bill comes to me, not the current registered owner, the former owner or the lessee. Easy.

[AerBabe]

The formation flying courses at North Weald use callsigns for each group. Each course has a different theme. One year it was animals, but no-one thought it was funny when we in the tower started calling them 'Hamster Formation'. :hmm:

[eharding]

The formation flying courses at North Weald use callsigns for each group. Each course has a different theme. One year it was animals, but no-one thought it was funny when we in the tower started calling them 'Hamster Formation'. :hmm:


The formation course callsigns have a daily theme - e.g. storms - "Tempest", "Typhoon"...but on 'snake' day last Spring the suggestion of having "Viper", "Cobra" and "Trouser" was vetoed...well, "Trouser" was anyway.

I prefer 'Scooby' as a formation callsign....as in

"Scooby...Check"

"Scooooooooby Two!"

[sierracharlie]

So can you just make one up and use it.
I'd like "aerobatics one" ...can I just start using it tomorrow?
I don't see why not. If they use 'themed' callsigns for the formation courses at North Weald on a daily basis I don't see how these can have been pre-registered with ICAO etc.
Just pass the callsign you want to use and the associated aircraft registration when you book out. Any landing fees etc. can then be allocated correctly by the ATC facility.
If you are away from your home base and the callsign is not recognised they will ask for the registration.

[Floppy Link]

Had a AS350 into Perth a few years ago using the callsign "Ghostrider zero zero seven"

we were in stitches when the guy on the radio mumbled (off air):

"...should have been called "Pretentious One"..."

[Zulu Alpha]

"Aerobatics one" it is then..... thought I'd get in quick before Mr Harding bagged it


ZA

[eharding]

"Aerobatics one" it is then..... thought I'd get in quick before Mr Harding bagged it
ZA


Too many syllables - you want something with two or three at the most - you know..."Viper", "Vodka"...or...er...."Dipstick"....something like that...:E

[A and C]

TNT the cargo compant use Nitro.......... I like that!

[Talkdownman]

At a special event at EGSX once I was assigned 'Haemorrhoid One' because I was being a pain in the ****

[AerBabe]

I don't see why not. If they use 'themed' callsigns for the formation courses at North Weald on a daily basis I don't see how these can have been pre-registered with ICAO etc.

I don't know if there's a difference between individual callsigns and formation callsigns. I'm talking about the latter. e.g. 'Badger Formation', comprising G-AAAA, G-BBBB, G-CCCC etc.

['Chuffer' Dandridge]

The next two in the sequence being:
"Strike3" and
"Yer Out!"

For those of you who know the Pilot involved, it certainly was 3 strikes and yer out!:rolleyes:

Callsigns are an ICAO thing, and you have to apply to a chap somewhere at Heathrow to get allocated an official callsign. I seem to remember they don't issue callsigns to individuals anymore, only to company or AOC holders.

In the case of Flying Clubs and stinking rich individuals, IMHO it smacks of 'trying to be better than your average Joe'. The Airlines and the military I can understand, but it's no better than those drivers who pay huge amounts to have a personalised number plate?:confused:

[englishal]

In the case of Flying Clubs and stinking rich individuals, IMHO it smacks of 'trying to be better than your average Joe'
Why? Each to their own I say....I'd rather have a call sign, better than the tongue twister of a registration I have :) Breitling one five five would be my choice ;)

[ST-EX]

I am a PPL with a fairly large school (Filton) who have the callsign 'Fast Track'. Yes, it is slightly pretentious, but when you're learning it's nice to not have to think about the aircraft's reg everytime you make a call.
It makes me think about the origins of the callsign; 'Fast track'..to what, I wonder?:confused:

[Flap40]

A fairly recent list of Callsigns in civillian use can be found here:
http://www.airlinecodes.co.uk/callsign.asp

Recent????????

Try putting in Speedbird and see what you get as the first entry!

[eharding]

But 'Birdseed' returns the usual, accurate, response....stony silence... :)

[vintage ATCO]

AIC 69/2005

4 Telephony Designators
4.1 With the exception of State aircraft, ICAO Telephony Designators will normally only be assigned to AOC holders. Normally, no more than one Telephony Designator will be registered for each aircraft operating agency, aeronautical authority or service.
4.2 Exceptionally, Telephony Designators may be assigned to non-AOC holders at the discretion of DAP. In such cases, the assigned Telephony Designator may be used for flights operated in accordance with aircraft and pilot licensing requirements. Telephony Designators will not under any circumstances be assigned to individuals for personal use.
4.3 Telephony Designators may be used as part of the radiotelephony callsign in accordance with ICAO Radiotelephony Procedures (Annex 10, Volume 2) and CAP 413 (Radiotelephony Manual). Telephony Designators should resemble as far as possible the name of the aircraft operating agency or its function. Ideally, there should be a correlation between the three-letter designator, the Telephony Designator and the name of the aircraft operating agency or its function.
4.4 In order to reduce the length of R/T transmissions, Telephony Designators should be brief and comprise if possible one word of two or three syllables. It should not exceed two words. The Telephony Designator should be easily and phonetically pronounceable.
4.5 The use by aircraft operators of Telephony Designators relating to an air traffic service unit is not recommended and should be avoided.

[Pitts2112]

My squadron mates and I will often call ourselves "Pitts Formation" when gaggled rather than use the reg of the leader or something like that. It reminds people that we're more than one, hopefully adding a bit to general SA. We've never had a problem either here in the UK or in France. Having said that, we usually make pretty clear what Lead's reg is at some point anyway, so it's more of an easier handle than anything we try to make "official".


First day flying at Redhill a couple of years ago, I was gutted to listen in on the tower freq and get all excited at the impending flyby of "Mustang XX" only to find out that it belonged to a bloody R-22! It's the helicopter training school callsign.


The Story of "Stealth 1"
On the subject of callsigns, a guy I knew from my days in the USAF was a Stealth Fighter pilot, rank of captain, returning single-ship to Holloman AFB from an airshow in the east somewhere. The squadron callsign at home base is "Sundowner XX", but he'd been assigned "Stealth 1" as he was the only Stealth at the airshow.


Enroute he had to stop in at another USAF base for fuel, still using the callsign Stealth 1. When he arrived, on a Sunday down day, he's led by the follow-me truck, not to the Transient Ramp, where all visiting aircraft get parked, but straight as an arrow to the VIP parking spot at the end of the red carpet (permanently painted on the apron) directly in front of Base Ops. He thought "Wow! I've hit the big time!" and was looking for someone to high-5 to celebrate this unexpected treatment for a mere captain.


As he popped the canopy, three full-bird colonels came walking out of Base Ops to greet him. The one walking faster than the other two, the wing commander (top dog on the base) takes one look at Ken's bars and says irately, "A captain?! Where the hell is your wing commander?!?!"


To which Ken, suddenly feeling deflated and confused at this unexplained attack, and still sitting in the cockpit, replies "Well, he's back at Holloman, Sir!"


"Well then, who are you, carrying his callsign?" At which point Ken had figured out where the confusion came from: When he filed his flightplan and it arrived at the base's tower, they naturally would have alerted the Command Post that a VIP was inbound.


"Oh!! Sorry, sir", Ken explains, "He's Sundowner 1. I was given Stealth 1 as an airshow callsign for the trip back home."


The commander and one of the other colonels stomped off without another word, quite put out that they'd been called away from their Sunday BBQ by the command post, got dressed in their uniforms, and had to go out, as military protocol demands, and great an unannounced wing commander...which turned out to be some captain on his way home from a weekend jolly.


Ken was a little deflated and sat there for a second wondering what to do next when all was put right as the third officer, still standing on the apron under the cockpit, grinning like a maniac, looked up at Ken, just like the kids at the airshow he'd just left, and asked, "Can I have a look at your jet?"


He's since left the USAF and rebuilds T-6s with his Dad, as far as I know. Races 'em at Reno, too. Hell of a fine leader and gentleman, Ken is.


Pitts2112

[stiknruda]

2112, why don't we get a bunch of like minded guys together to go meet Ken and a few others at R E N O later this year! I'm free!!

2112 - you've just worked out why I can't say the R E N O name, he'll want to come !!!

Stik

[Pitts2112]

2112, why don't we get a bunch of like minded guys together to go meet Ken and a few others at R E N O later this year! I'm free!!
2112 - you've just worked out why I can't say the R E N O name, he'll want to come !!!
Stik

Two's aboard! Already thought about that. As soon as I think we've got a quarum committed, I'm going to try to get back in touch with Ken. Ozark Boyz again?

Pitts2112

[unfazed]

ATC registered Callsigns are normally used for commercial operators and commercial training providers so if you are not one of the above then they are not really for you (according to guidance on call sign registration ).

[VFE]

Heard an Apache helicopter today on Cottesmore LARS. The callsign?

'Gangster!'

How cool is that?! http://www.pprune.org/forums/images/smilies/cool.gif Not even a 'Gangster 01' or Gangster 02 etc. Just 'Gangster!'. You could tell the pilot liked saying it too... and so would I! http://www.pprune.org/forums/images/smilies/badteeth.gif

VFE.

[Kit d'Rection KG]

To the original poster, this is a bit like...

If you need to ask "how much?", you can't afford it

...or in other words...

If you don't understand it, then you haven't reached that level in the game yet.

These callsigns are mostly legitimately used by commercial operators for various reasons, the simplest being the likelihood of a last-minute airframe change. It's also helpful for some pilots (like me) who end up having their own callsign within an organisation (with that operator, regardless of what I'm flying, I have my own number, except on charters, where we use the charter trip number).

Some 'individuals' (and I use the word in its loosest possible sense to encompass 'operators', mostly at North Weald, who are playing at being fighter pilots) have adopted their own callsigns, and are only a letter of complaint or a 3113 (assuming my memory has accurately identified the new name for the 939) from a call from Enforcement.

Oh, and doubtless, someone will be along with the 'stupid formation' dit in a few posts from here.

If you're flying G-ABCD, and a grown-up hasn't told you otherwise; or you're not sure what a grown-up is; or don't know if you've met one (take special note if you fly from North Weald); then you should call yourself 'G-ABCD'.

[Katherine Alexandra]

Heard "Maverick one-one" on Wycombe tower on Saturday evening. Had us in fits...I can't for the life of me remember what the aircraft itself was but suffice to say it was a fairly little 'un.

[wind for sale]

First day flying at Redhill a couple of years ago, I was gutted to listen in on the tower freq and get all excited at the impending flyby of "Mustang XX" only to find out that it belonged to a bloody R-22! It's the helicopter training school callsign.


I have heard that call sign at Manston before and same as you was abit upset that it was only a robbo, not that there's anything wrong with them.

[gcolyer]

I want "spamcan"

[aluminium persuader]

Being slightly more serious, incorrect use of callsigns causes a whole heap of trouble sometimes. Frinstance there's a JP outfit who use "Sword", except "Sword" belongs to a Tucano squadron at (IIRC) Linton. A few years ago the AAC thought they could make up callsigns and were charging up & down the country using a Harrier unit's monniker.

Don't want to poop anyone's party, but callsigns are an official thing & not a free-for-all.

ap

PS Hi AerBabe! Long time no hear!

[eharding]

Being slightly more serious, incorrect use of callsigns causes a whole heap of trouble sometimes. Frinstance there's a JP outfit who use "Sword", except "Sword" belongs to a Tucano squadron at (IIRC) Linton. A few years ago the AAC thought they could make up callsigns and were charging up & down the country using a Harrier unit's monniker.

Don't want to poop anyone's party, but callsigns are an official thing & not a free-for-all.


If you could point us at a reference allocating those callsigns to those units (on VHF) , that would be lovely.

[GalleyTeapot]

Slipper One and Slipper One Two have been used in the past! Cant tell ya where tho

[sierracharlie]

EHarding ........... point us at a reference allocating those callsigns to those units (on VHF) , that would be lovely.
The definitive list is maintained by ICAO in document 8585. Can't find a link on the ICAO site but the Danes have this one ICAO DOC 8585 (http://dcaa.slv.dk:8000/icaodocs/Doc%208585-141/)

Comes in three parts and contains a worldwide listing. Each part is sorted differently ie. by Company, by Callsign or by three letter designator.

[Saab Dastard]

Interesting list, thanks for the link! :ok:

I was hoping to find Air America... ;)

Nice to see some culture - SalzburgJetAviation GMBH of Austria has the callsign "Mozart". How delightful!

SD

[Mikehotel152]

Love the Spamcan idea! :}

[Fright Level]

The database doesn't contain the callsign "Exam" which brings back memories of a CAAFU examiner watching my every move.

[BackPacker]

Love the Spamcan idea!

Is plastic already given? Otherwise I might just use that next time I fly a composite aircraft.

[Fried_Chicken]

As regards to callsigns used by the Military, most of the Squadron/Mission specific callsigns aren't approved by ICAO. Callsigns such as Ascot (RRR), RafAir (RFR), Rescue (SRG) & Army Air (AAC) are all allocated by ICAO with the relevant 3 letter code.

However, "Kestrel" for example is the callsign for MyTravel Airways (ICAO code MYT) but is also used by 20sqn Harriers

"Snoopy" is another one, It's the official callsign of a German Bizjet operator but is/was also used by Grob's of the Yorkshire AEF

There are plenty of other examples where Military units use callsigns which are allocated by the ICAO to Airlines etc.. I'm not sure who, if anybody, approves the use of callsigns by the Military (& it's not just in the UK)

Fried Chicken

[chevvron]

I heard today that Apache callsigns are allocated by computer!
ZuluAlpha: the callsign 'Acrobat One' was used by the immortal Neil Williams for a short period before his tragic death.

[Kit d'Rection KG]

Part n+1 of my previous n rants in various forums: :)

The definitive list is maintained by ICAO in document 8585. Can't find a link on the ICAO site but the Danes have this one ICAO DOC 8585

Yes, ICAO believe they are above having to provide any public face, and thus their documents are available only on a paid, subscription, basis. Some States which have 'freedom of information' legislation, and take it seriously, publish for them. :ugh:

Utterly pathetic. :sad:

ICAO, shame on you. :=:=:=:=