Misheard Callsigns
 

Quick stop yesterday at Sheldon Park to view BHX traffic. Nice views of the Emirates 777 but otherwise quiet. Just about to pack up and leave when there was call to tower from an aircraft with pilot who's first language was not English and call-sign 'Towbar'. Interesting, I thought and deided to hang around.

Couple more calls before I twigged word was actually 'Stobart' and it was a EI ATR!!

Any others with tales of mis-heard callsigns?

Upper Clyde for Hapag Lloyd

"Clanspeed"/"Transwede"

If I'm not mistaken, both Fedex and Channel Express once used the same "Express" callsign back in the 1980s, pre "Chan-ex".

I found it was one thing identifying callsigns with a strip/electronic data in front of me, and quite another when simply listening to the r/t without this information. Even more so at airports with unfamiliar callsigns (to me). Wish I'd made a list of what I thought I'd heard and what it really was.

Friend of mine from the Air Force heard a student call "Juliet nine wind, down one" in the circuit at Syerston.

My own misinterpretation was wondering who "Ebbelin" was, until I twigged it was "Air Berlin."

And those of us who were in "Buzz" when Ryanair took over, after decades of the "UKAY" call sign, found ourselves starting every transmission with "URINEAIR" ...:uhoh:

"Channex" used to be "Expressair" which got confused with Air Europe Express who used the call sign "Express".
Going to the Channel Isles with something like "Expressair 501" and "Express 501" on frequency at the same time caused problems.
Channel Express changed to "Channex" to solve the problem and then Air Europe Express went bust a few months later.

I recall overhearing a taxi driver at Gatwick enquiring about the arrival of the "Cafe Specific".

CX at Gatwick?

When they first started routes to the UK, it was to Gatwick.

FedEx used the Express call sign up until the late 90's then simply changed to "FedEx". Several old timers took a while to get used to it and there were many corrections for the first 6 months :-)

.... with pilot who's first language was not English

Oh the irony!:)

Jack

"Goose poo" aka Goosepool
Blaqueadder RAE
to name but two

Heard Gruyere several times recently - actually TUI Air!!

A USAF helicopter on a cross country in northern England was in contact with London FIR. In one position reports he gave an estimate for "Stealens". It took a while to realise he meant St Helens!

EASY and EASTFLIGHT ( Eastern Airways ) often hard to distinguish with some particular callsigns. EASY FIVE___ etc

.

My particular favourite at present is "Broad Sword" which often sounds like "Pork Sword" over the r/t.

Easyjet Switzerland's 'Topswiss' sounds very like 'Thomson' especially if the flight number begins with an 's'. Problem solved by Thomson now calling up as 'Tui air'.

I always wondered about Maybelline having their own airline :O
(It was Air Berlin :))

I’ve got away with ‘Sheena Easton 552’ over the years, as well as clearing SAS to ‘Oslo Garden Gnome’