The Emirates Call Sign
 

Just a mini vent here...

The EK call sign is "Emirates", not "Emirat" and not "Emirati". I hear controllers using the wrong one and a lot of our pilots, too. I know what it is, it's kind of implying ownership, national pride or whatever and that's fine I guess, but the second two are not the airline's call sign.

Doesn't REALLY bug me (and I'm used to it by now) but it still bugs me a little just the same.

Anybody else feel the same or care to comment?

Just curious...

A bit bored today?

Trying to fill the summer void?!? :ugh:

I had a chuckle the other day when I heard, "The Emirate".

Too funny.

PG

yeah a little bored or i wouldn't be on here....but same with you guys lol.

anyway not a big deal, just one of those little things. I've just never heard people invent their own call signs before. :)

I will be happy to call you anything you want, on one condition: you stop calling me one hour before your departure time asking what runway and departure you can expect. I don't see your flight strip until 30 minutes prior to departure time and your company is the only one who asks an hour before. If we pull your clearance up early the response is always no we will call you back. :ugh::ugh:

By the way, the departure runway is on the ATIS and it runs 24 hours a day, go give it a listen.

HM79

I always do my best at figuring things out on my own with the available tools, and being prepared for a last minute runway change, in most cases you will find in this type of airlines a fair amount of training going on, although the dispatcher does his best at calculating the RTOW, the pilots are often confronted with this question when they reach the airplane, we calculate it on a TO performance software, and if can get help with the runway prediction for departure time, we have a better idea of max take off weight.
most of the time spent preparing the departure is based on that runway,
preparing the FMS for normal and emergency situation, briefing for both conditions, preparing takeoff performance, and offloading cargo if there is an unexpected runway change. all those things can be done very quickly with experienced and efficient crews, but again consider there are plenty off pilots under training, some of them will never overcome that phase.

If only JFK gave us taxi clearance to the ATIS and PDC runway....;)

Why do Emirates crews have such difficulty with JFK's procedures? They're not dissimilar to most major US airports. Additionally, the many other international carriers operating do not seem to have seem to have theses issues.

It speaks volumes of the type of pilots Emirates hires.
Critical thinking, deductive reasoning and common sense are sorely lacking but then again if we possessed all of the above EK couldn't run rough shot over us and we wouldn't put up with the crap they deliver.

It's not so much the crew, although there are a few muppets about, but more the SOP's. BA can set up their A380's in 30 minutes, we need 40-50 with double checking the cross check of the check. Check?

Harry

But having said that, there is no magic to JFK's procedures. I've heard that the route briefing documentation for Emirates JFK ops is several pages long. Not to mention the setup for a Canarsie visual arrival. It's a simple visual with some lead in lights thrown in. Every pilot should be able to handle that without reading several pages of briefings.

over India sometimes you hear " AAmrit " hmmm first time i heard that it sound like Armpit !!! ... only once the pilot replied back the instruction did i know that actually it was an Emirates super over flying.

One morning a few years back we were over Bahrain and the controller was pretty busy with all the flights transiting his sector and sounded a bit stressed. Sounded as if he was from North America.
Another EK flight (whose radio voice sounded local) then came on freq to announce, "Bahrain, Emirati xxx at flight level 320". The Bahrain controller snapped back, "Emirati xxx.... I don't have an Emirati xxx on my strip. Go back to previously assigned frequency to straighten out your call sign"

K

haha, awesome!

You need a flight strip do give runway-in-use? I don't.

For those reading who are not from EK, you are dealing with an operator that would rather create an RNAV letdown in lieu of allowing their guys to fly a stand alone visual approach. Our Flight Ops Management view automation as the last line of defence with human intervention viewed as being the threat, rather than automation being designed to support the human.

Its ridiculous I know but it won't change and we have what we have. Our leaders enjoy injecting eye watering sums of cash into brand awareness exercises, such as sports sponsorships and they don't want any risk of any bad PR.

Agreed. However, not every pilot has to work under management with such a punitive reputation (real or imagined). Additionally, most "western" pilots have the luxury of a union to stand behind them if things don't go according to plan.

Only saying.

Does that mean EK is going to allow unions now to "help" their pilots?

I find the American attitude to international airlines a bit strange. I know most of the pilots you deal with work things out on the back of an envelope, but guess what, when you fly to some airports max once or twice every few years, it takes a bit of preparation and briefing. It's called airmanship. If means pissing off some grumpy controller then tough titty.