With regards to the Paris computer not having all the aircraft types, surely it's the airline's operations people that sends out the initial flightplan to all the enroute adressees, and that should be the correct information. And if the company changes the operating equipment, it is up to them to send the appropriate change message.

Is this another case of catering for the lowest common denominator and not giving a swift kick up the ar$e to those who don't do the right thing?

In my brief 12 years in ATC, I can count on one hand the number of times that the operating equipment have changed and we have not been notified before the aircraft moves. Even then, the crew have a copy of the submitted flightplan and have always cross-checked and alerted us if there has been a change.

As for descending on the glidepath, don't get me started on that lowest common denominator, just-in-case crap. :ok:

Cheers,

NFR.

Most airports seem to require type as standard part of initial call for reasons previously stated so why does AMS specifically say at end of ATIS "Call approach with callsign only" (still doesn't stop some giving the full nine yards though!)

Me thinks the main reason for type confirmation is to confirm the airport landing charges.

And bring on the American callsign `123 heavy` to resolve any of the seperation problems.

Simples

super
 

has anyone noticed that sq uses '123 super' for its 380s in certain airports? is that a show off thing or do we need to know cause that whale really produces more wake than a normal 'heavy?'

Quite likely it refers to the achieved seniority and salary...:}

NFR:
When London receives the flight message from the Paris computer to activate the flight in our airspace, the message contains aircraft type. Due to Paris computer not having all the types in that London computer has throws up match discrepancies so we have to confirm the type as we do not have the filed flight plan on sector. The popular ones are A340-600 (Paris tends to send this as a A340-200) and B777-300ER, we differentiate between the long range versions and the normal ones, Paris doesn't. Its an annoyance using up yet more valuable RTF.

I've seen Emirates do that into SYD as well. Personally I think it's a good thing as it reminds the rest of us heavy drivers that we actually need to think about wake vortex separation today as we're not the heaviest thing in the sky any more.

Emirates do that into YYZ also. Outwith the wake category it is also a heads up for us as we have to inform the tower of its arrival. They need to do a runway inspection after it lands.

The reason that they ask for type is quite simple really. It's just their polite way of making sure that we know what type it is in fact that we are driving on to their precious tarmac on that particular day. Avoids unpleasantness on the ground... and you really wouldn't wish to disturb the crash crews, would you.

And what is done about it? If it is incorrect then desn't that mean it was incorrect when the aircraft departed, doesn't it mean that there might have been a BOS involving the aircraft before it got to Heathrow Director frequency, doesn't it mean that incorrect charges may be levied. A local workaround when there is perhaps a systemic problem.

What reporting occurs? I guess nothing, world's best practice, don't think so.

A380's
 

I thought that the A388 had to make all calls with "Super" to indicate wake turb category.
Could be wrong though...

Frequency can be far too busy during peak-times to wait untill xxx123 has told you all about his acft type/altitude/cleared altitude/speed/his new car/his mother-in-law's birthday etcetc..:}

Thisresponse is typical of the kind of tea-slurper who is not responsible for flying hundreds of tons of metal through the air.

How dare you!, you take that back!!!!!

he actually prefers coffee :E
ps only jokin btw

How rude, and to a fellow professional at that. I'm shocked HD!

Married a Canadian.

Why do they need to do a runway inspection ?

T:confused:

To see if any stowaways have dropped out of the undercarriage bay on landing...

Engines are tested by having frozen chickens fired at them at high speed, but are not tested agains ingesting frozen illegal immigrants. You can't be too careful

One of the first times the A380 came into YYZ they applied full reverse thrust on landing and consequently a fair amount of debris was scattered over the runway from the grass alongside. This included dead animals and supposedly lunchboxes!!?? ...(awaits obvious responses).

They check the runway now after both departure and arrival.

Come on guys... it makes sense really.

Heathrow Director has little room for error. ATC in Europe might be quick to spot an incorrect type when taxying out when compared to the FPL. However at some of the more 'colourful' airfields in the less developed world, many ATCOs won't care if the FPL says B752 and a B763 is what he/she is seeing of the tower.

In some parts of the world, ATCOs have a very poor knowledge of different aircraft types and associated aircraft performance when compared to Europe and especially the UK.

Why should the Heathrow Director trust the ATCO on 'Bongo Bongo' tower to ensure that the FPL has been correctly filed with the correct aircraft type prior to departure?

As reasonable as it sounds, one has to wonder why this very seldom required outside the UK and apparently everywhere within th UK...is this a legal problem, e.g. your necks on the block, but, say, a germans atcos neck NOT on any sort of block if operator did not file correctly?


Other q: I do fly under reg, my current airplane is a Cessna Citation Sovereign or C680. What would you consider the best/most correct way to tell you the type?
A) Just 'citation' - they could be Light or Medium
b) Citation Sovereign
or
c) C680

?

For the time being I say C680 - the icao type identifier....