How dumb is this?
 

Heard on the same frequency today into YSSY were Rex 664 and Rex 464. These flights it seems are scheduled into YSSY 25minutes apart from the same area of NSW.

Surely the people who allocate flight numbers conduct some checks to see if there are any likely clashes with numbers that could lead to misunderstanding as life is already difficult enough.

I am an ATC working a large en-route sector which has about 10 frequencies, all re-transmitting.
Sometimes we have about 25 aircraft in the airspace.....5-6 Virgin....5-6 Qantas...and multiples of most airlines.

It never ceases to amaze me just how similar many of the flight numbers are.

In the past fortnight I would have had at least 3 wrong aircraft responding to another aircrafts instruction. Thank god never for a level change....usually just a frequency transfer. And some of these guys switch INSTANTLY, so ya don't get a chance to correct it.

Report em
 

Get your ALM or supervisor to ESIR every instance (give em somethin to do!) That way CASA & ATSB see how scary it is!

Jamit

So, was it better when they used the rego as a callsign?:confused:

Hyman Buster.....Something this dyslexia is problem for A B Lert causing!
(works for Yoda)

Then again...maybe BA is suggesting we could identify the aircraft after the PIC's first name:E

Victor Vector...Clearance Clarence...Hey that sounds like a good line for a movie.....:)

Not sure if it's changed but I remember hearing 3 Sunstate flights inbound to Brisbane in the morning, all arriving at around the same time - Flight numbers 335, 353 and 323. They got fouled up on a regular basis.

I get called QF instead of DJ with a similar flight number too. Seems ATC isn't perfect either!

Regos can be just as bad. I remember one busy afternoon in Darwin when I had ZML, ZMK, ZME, ZMG and ZMT all simultaneously on frequency! I can assure you that caused more than a little confusion for all involved.

Regos are better. Way back in the dark days of the 70's I had many aircraft in a holding pattern. The only mistakes were made by BA12, PA812 and QFA 12, all of who managed to respond to the others' instructions.
Moving forward many years, there were fixed conditions agreed to by the airlines when Flight number callsigns (FNCs) were introduced; most of these have been ignored. The God of marketing and forward publishing of schedules takes precedence over safety.
However, there are some advantages of FNCs; they can avoid the trauma that aircraft changes can cause in an automated system (eg BAM viceBAB vice BAA taxies for KII....)

"I get called QF instead of DJ with a similar flight number too. Seems ATC isn't perfect either!"



No human is.....it is the system I was critical of.....not pilots.

Whether rego's were any better or not is irrelevant. It's not going to change back. It's not about whether pilot's make the mistake or controllers. I've done it and had it done to me. I try and warn similar callsigns when they are both on freq, but it isn't always apparant until after it happens.

The point is that the airlines have the power to do this properly and they don't. With 3 digits following the company name, it allows for 1000 different combinations. Surley someone from each company can do a little homework and mix it up a bit better.:hmm:

A good place to start might be with AsA - they get the slots requests from the airlines. Not perfect, but a start.

As others have pointed out, surely the safest way is to use registrations, at least with domestic flights, as there can not be two the same. :ok:

I seem to recall plenty of hassles when there were a bunch of Echo Alpha's and Romeo Mikes ploughing through the skies! It probably has increased marginally but given the way that most airlines rego their aircraft we're deluding ourselves thinking that is the answer to the problem.

Well IMHO it MUST be safer surely, even IF you had RMD, RME, RMF, RMG all on approach to the same airport, each is a different identity and "shouldn't" be confused. :ok:

I've found that waiting until the controller calls my ID three times to make sure I'm the one he/she is calling always works a treat. Never any confusion at my end.

Try Eastern 2001, EA2101, EA2121 going through SGT to SY together.

Or the daily EA2115 and EA2116 SY-CFS/CFS-SY as they pass each other.

It definitely used to be by registrations, domestically anyway, why on Earth was it changed? :ugh:

The bright sparks at JQ changed the way they number flights a couple of years. Domestic flights are numbered JQ400 upwards, similar to how QF number their flights. You now often have JQ and QF flights departing/arriving the same port with same number at a simialr time eg: QF444 MEL-SYD 1600, JQ444 MEL-OOL 1545.

With EAA, why not just drop the '2'?
Sunnies doesn't fall out of the sky because they use 3 digits.

FFS, are they ever going to have more than 999 flights airborne at once?:ugh: