Controller Handles Two American Flights With Identical Call Signs

News Discussion
1

Originally published at: Controller Handles Two American Flights With Identical Call Signs

Duplicate call signs put two American Airlines flights on the same frequency near Phoenix.

2

There seem to be several missed hoops: the AA dispatch/ops tracking system not preventing duplicate callsigns, the FAA flight plan system accepting them and it would seem to have been within the rules for the controller to assign a different callsign to one of the aircraft.

3

I read that the airline’s normal procedures:

  • specified using different flight number for return flight from end of route IF it was departing before inbound arrived
  • otherwise used same flight number which is odd practice

Airline used another airplane for the departure instead of waiting for the inbound airplane.

4

Excellent work by controller - sharp observation, quick thinking on addressing each flight differently.

Would transponder code be different, to help controllers?