Naughty Step

[Duchess_Driver]

Is there an “unofficial” bad-boys callsign list?

I know as flight crew we discuss “going into X - let’s hope we don’t get “yer-man” in the tower/approach.” etc.

Just wondering if there is a similar discussion within ATC - “Oh, FFS, not X-YZ again - what’s he going to complain about this time?”

And do you recognise voices... “oh no, not him again?”

[mike current]

I know as flight crew we discuss “going into X - let’s hope we don’t get “yer-man” in the tower/approach.” etc.


Don't worry. He's on furlough 😂

[autothrottle]

Is there an “unofficial” bad-boys callsign list?

I know as flight crew we discuss “going into X - let’s hope we don’t get “yer-man” in the tower/approach.” etc.

Just wondering if there is a similar discussion within ATC - “Oh, FFS, not X-YZ again - what’s he going to complain about this time?”

And do you recognise voices... “oh no, not him again?”

Yes. But the majority you recognise are normally because they are good!

[Dan Dare]

As human being we each have our favourites and voices that turn us on/off on the radio. I can’t imagine the horror of matching some of my favourites with a face. Similarly, the scars of dealing with certain airlines makes us wary next time you deal with them. It’s not fair, call it prejudice if you like, but experience is how you deal with daily challenges. If XYZ123 is regularly hard work I’m going to be extra cautious with their next services until they’re replaced by someone worse in my experience bank.

[off watch]

In the late 80's / early 90's there were two pilots on separate routes who operated regularly on the night mail flights into Liverpool. Their voices became well known & they were notorious for whinging & complaining about the service they got from Manchester Control. Listening to them nattering on the unofficial "chat" frequencies could be quite entertaining at times ! I wonder if they ever worked out that the more sarcastic they were, the worse the service they got ? ;-)

[chevvron]

There was the famous case of a certain 'remark' being inadvertantly transmitted on the ATIS about an inbound flight to a large Scottish airfield. (It involved the word 'fxxxing')
Then when I retired from ATC at Farnborough and started FISOing from Fairoaks less than 2 weeks later, a lot of pilots found it confusing hearing my voice saying they thought they had the wrong frequency selected!

[Del Prado]

Chevron, I fished this abbreviated version from the humour thread....

Late evening ABZ, shortly before airfield closed for the day:- "F***ing DanAir 123 fully established R/W 18"
Tower: "Say again callsign"
"F****ing Dan Air 123"
"Phone ATC please after arrival"
" OK. Please listen to your ATIS before I call"
Loud and clear in background of ATIS recording "When's that f****ing Dan Air 123 going to arrive so we can all go home"


credit to Sailor for original post

[Packer27L]

And do you recognise voices... “oh no, not him again?”
Back when I wore a headset you certainly recognised the voices of based pilots - and you quickly knew who you could have a laugh with! Back when that was allowed.....

[ShyTorque]

Then when I retired from ATC at Farnborough and started FISOing from Fairoaks less than 2 weeks later, a lot of pilots found it confusing hearing my voice saying they thought they had the wrong frequency selected!

I must have a fairly distinctive R/T voice (hopefully so for the right reasons). I changed jobs after a period of three years and again after another five but remained based in the same local area as a certain major airport. Both times I changed jobs I took great care to get my "new" callsign correct so not to embarrass myself, especially as my original callsign was a police one. Even so, when I called that certain "local" ATC unit they sometimes responded using my old one, which got me confused me, too! :\

[Southman]

Back in the 60’s a RAF pilot used to fly from Singapore to Hong Kong on a regular basis.. He was a regular so his voice was well known. In the 70’s, after a 10 year break, he returned to Changi and started flying the route again. On his first trip he radioed Hong Kong from a distance and was surprised to hear a voice saying “Captain Clark, welcome back to the Far East”. On landing at Kai Tak he went to the control tower to find the ATCO who had recognised his voice. They denied all knowledge of his call. It was probably the Chinese listener who was monitoring all inbounds to Kai Tak and who could not resist the welcome message as he recognised Capt Clark’s voice.