Callsign Speedbird 8 Yankee Golf

[Jumbo744]

Hello,

I don't know if this is the right place to ask but:

Yesterday night I was flying over Montreal, Canada, and I heard an aircraft calling as 'Speedbird 8 Yankee Golf'. Now I am sure it was British Airways Flight 094 YUL-LHR, but why don't they use the standard 'Speedbird 094' callsign?

Any info appreciated. Thanks.

[Carnage Matey!]

There's probably a similar callsign for another flight operating at either end at the same time, so they change the BA callsign to avoid confusion. It's a pain in the ass to be honest as they always choose a really long alternative which just ties up the airwaves.

[Jumbo744]

thanks a lot carnage matey! i never thought about this!

[criss]

I don't think so. More and more airlines change callsigns of their flights by replacing flight numbers by a combination of numbers and letters, to reduce risk of callsign confusion. This is becoming a rule rather than exception.

[HHI OPS]

BA is just following something, which is becoming standard in Europe.

[HeathrowAirport]

Why do they name BA2708 EGKK-LEPA BAW7PW though?

Becuase theres a similar callsign for the return that they keep the same - BAW2709 Instead of say BAW7WP etc..

[NW3]

I think it's also partly to do with the fact that 4 digit callsigns are the ones most frequently confused (ABC1378 vs ABC1738).

NW3

[bigjames]

although speedbird 94 is pretty easy. perhaps the issues arise when they get to the other side of the pond and there are a whole fleet of speedbird call signs going on.

and i have checked, there is only one BA flight departing Montreal every night.

[Jumbo744]

affirmative. + they usually depart around 9 or 10 pm, I was with Montreal Tower at 10:15 pm when they took off, and there was not much traffic. So the problem of callsigns sounding alike must arise when they reach UK as you said.

[fly_ebos]

I think this is a good practice from BA to change callsigns in order to avoid confusion.
If only others would follow!

It happens regularly that we have confusion with KLM's inbound to EHAM:
KLM1264, KLM1624, KLM1426, etc... And if you have one pilot not paying attention, it's a pain in the

[Thunderbug]

The BA94 arrives at LHR at pretty much the same time as the BA294 from ORD. You can see the potential for confusion!

[coracle]

The BA142 and the BA124 is a good one at 6 o'clock in the morning when all are tired!

[bigjames]

BA294

Thunderbug, good point, and according to FlightAware, speedbird 294 overflies montreal at about exactly the same time as 94 is taking off. so i guess one follows the other pretty closely across the whole flight plan. i think we have our answer!

[JulieFlyGal]

Originally Posted by fly_ebos

It happens regularly that we have confusion with KLM's inbound to EHAM:
KLM1264, KLM1624, KLM1426, etc... And if you have one pilot not paying attention, it's a pain in the

In Australia,we say the numbers as paired groups so that confusion is minimised, eg, in the example above, KLM twelve sixty-four, KLM sixteen twenty-four, KLM fourteen twenty-six. If you do it this way, they won't sound the same!

[anotherthing]

Lufthansa have been using trigraph callsigns for some time - about time other airlines cottoned onto the benefits...

[fly_ebos]

good tip JulieFlyGal!

[BOAC]

Actually BA has been doing this certainly since the 90's. We used to operate the LGW-VIE schedule as 84WW (?2884? to LOWW) - which caused Maastricht to refer to us as 'Speedbird 84 double scotch'

[Charley B]

TOM and EZY also do it as well now!!
LH have done this for a long while--can be a pain if i am checking flights for my other half to meet at LGW-EZY ft nos can be easily decoded,-TOM not so simple

[Lon More]

Dates back at least 20 years IIRC. It began with a BALPA initiative to reduce callsign confusion. Finally being implemented

[TrafficTraffic]

Know anything about the Double Scotch callsign Lon ??????
Sounds like somthing in your department!

TT