New EZY Alphanumeric c/s's
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I don't know about you ATC peeps but listening to a (I guess an ex)Go crew leaving stansted getting in a muddle about EASY 26JQ(or similar) and giving up and saying "the one that just left, london 118.82"
I feel for you.
I feel for you.
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Vintage ...
Due to the Go merger, and the fact we now have nearly 70 B737s, the old three digit c/s's wouldn't have worked apparantly.
So they decided to rehash it completely for the summer sched, and issue four digits as a commercial flight number.
I believe though that the c/s confusion potential using the four figures was horrendous, so the chief pilot wanted alpha-numerics - on everything !
The problem we have is the incredible way it was implemented within !
Amateur to say the least !
Our systems in ops struggle to cope with the two c/s's, the airports expect commercial flight numbers, the RPLs don't always match, the crews expect one c/s only to find ATC expect another etc etc ! Hours of endless fun !
Some of the flights that are live filed as opposed to RPLd are deliberately filed as the commercial number by us, so that everyone is batting off the same wicket !
As I said before ... chaos reigns !
Due to the Go merger, and the fact we now have nearly 70 B737s, the old three digit c/s's wouldn't have worked apparantly.
So they decided to rehash it completely for the summer sched, and issue four digits as a commercial flight number.
I believe though that the c/s confusion potential using the four figures was horrendous, so the chief pilot wanted alpha-numerics - on everything !
The problem we have is the incredible way it was implemented within !
Amateur to say the least !Our systems in ops struggle to cope with the two c/s's, the airports expect commercial flight numbers, the RPLs don't always match, the crews expect one c/s only to find ATC expect another etc etc ! Hours of endless fun !
Some of the flights that are live filed as opposed to RPLd are deliberately filed as the commercial number by us, so that everyone is batting off the same wicket !
As I said before ... chaos reigns !
Join Date: Aug 2000
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So wouldn't a the same flight number in/out with just a change of letter on the end to denote in/out help to resolve the problem. eg.
EZY002A out and EZY 002B back. i know you wouldn't use A & B for obvious reasons-but much easier for ATC.
EZY002A out and EZY 002B back. i know you wouldn't use A & B for obvious reasons-but much easier for ATC.
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R/T callsigns
Been following this with interest. Spanair, Iberworld, Futura all seem to manage with four-numeral callsigns and they are all very similar. There is no secret way to get round this, all you have to do is listen carefully and speak clearly....and maybe cut down on the message traffic. Our worst problem has always been overcontrol!
Join Date: Nov 2002
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If you are having a problem with the callsign/ flight number problem get in touch with EZY ops;they sent us this natty program that you can enter the flight number or callsign and it will tell you the other one (if you see what I mean) and the destination/route.
Personally I think are a bit of a mouthful initially but are less likely to cause confusion than just 3 numbers eg 253, 235 etc etc
Personally I think are a bit of a mouthful initially but are less likely to cause confusion than just 3 numbers eg 253, 235 etc etc
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I seem to remember a similar debate a few years ago when British Midland (and even before that when British Airways )went over to BMA8XF and BMA1ZB types of callsign.There was a lot of discussion about how difficult it was to get your tongue around ....now?? old hat ...I reckon the same will happen here ..just a time delay whilst we get used to them ..
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Is this true (heard it through the grape vine):
A female pilot, after departing a busy a/f in the S.W, announces:
"Radar, GOE 6GG with you climbing FL100"
Male ATCO voice booms:
"Roger thank you, (pause), is it true that you're E A S Y ?"
Reply from unknown source (believed to be the male co-pilot)
"No you still have to buy her dinner first"
That must have raised a few....... smiles
A female pilot, after departing a busy a/f in the S.W, announces:
"Radar, GOE 6GG with you climbing FL100"
Male ATCO voice booms:
"Roger thank you, (pause), is it true that you're E A S Y ?"
Reply from unknown source (believed to be the male co-pilot)
"No you still have to buy her dinner first"
That must have raised a few....... smiles
Heard them on the r/t for the first time today and the was amazed to discover that some of the callsign number/letter combinations are the same as our (bmi) ones. Don't know if they are going to be in the same piece of sky at the same time but the controller called a Midland flight Easyjet several times in the space of a few minutes. Can't help thinking that it's asking for trouble to have the same sequence in use by different airlines who flying in the same location so often, these must be thousands of combinations of one number and two letters so why not use something different.
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Getting used to it like all new things but some of them are a mouthful. It would be helpful if someone could come up with a fool-proof callsign system so that EZY's for Luton and EZY's for Stansted don't end up on final for the wrong airport; this is particularly important where flights share the same arrival stack e.g. LOREL or ABBOT. Whilst we have an internal system to try and make sure it doesn't happen (the flight strip is highlighted and the callsign tag on the radar shows the destination) someone is going to make a mistake as sure as eggs are eggs! Perhaps the intial call to ESSEX should give the destination airport?
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I heard a rumour that they did want different callsigns for the 2 airports but were refused. Something to do with their AOC I think.
As I said earlier these alpha numeric callsigns were OK as long as there were only one or two operators using them. Come on EZY bite the bullet and go for the "Britannia" method asap.
As I said earlier these alpha numeric callsigns were OK as long as there were only one or two operators using them. Come on EZY bite the bullet and go for the "Britannia" method asap.
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Its on the work computer so not sure if I will be able to do that but we got it diredctly from EZY ops so suggest you give them a ring and ask them to send it to you; they were very obliging to us!!
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I have to agree that they are a bit of a mouthful and the scope for callsign confusion is greater.
I do agree with topofthestack about having different call sign configurations for SS and GW. I have not as yet put on on final for the wrong airport but I've come close!
I will apologise now to any easy jet pilots if I do this in the future, it's got to happen at some point.
I do agree with topofthestack about having different call sign configurations for SS and GW. I have not as yet put on on final for the wrong airport but I've come close!
I will apologise now to any easy jet pilots if I do this in the future, it's got to happen at some point.
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What's wrong with 4 digit trip numbers?
Sensibly allocated to avoid similar numbers being in the same country within a couple of hours of each other. That shouls sort it most of the time. Hey, you could even use one of the numbers to indicate which airport the aircraft are oprating in or out of.
Or any number of variations that would avoid the real danger of callsign confusion or the like. All you need to do is ask for the assistance of a controller when working out the callsign system!
Sensibly allocated to avoid similar numbers being in the same country within a couple of hours of each other. That shouls sort it most of the time. Hey, you could even use one of the numbers to indicate which airport the aircraft are oprating in or out of.
Or any number of variations that would avoid the real danger of callsign confusion or the like. All you need to do is ask for the assistance of a controller when working out the callsign system!