How about "Mayday mayday mayday, ExpressJet 5912 (or whatever their FULL call
sign is),
Feith says the controller may have been distracted, only hearing the last
part of the flight number.
It's not in the recording as included in the media coverage--what
is the full callsign? ExpressJet 5912, or United 5912? Because obviously
something led the controller to believe the callsign given was "
United 12".
(Yeah, I know that other than the number of syllables "fif-ty nine" and "U-nit-ed" don't sound very much alike, but Feith's explanation makes it seem as if the controller heard only the number "12".)