-
Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?
Go here:
Edit Account Details and Profile
Call Signs
- Thread starter jmcquate
- Start date
As long as they are operating under the air carrier certificate that they were originally with (i.e America West or Airtran) then they will retain the same call sign. Airlines change names all of the time (so it seems, i.e. ValuJet ----> AirTran), and sometimes the call sign remains the same. So far as I know anyway
Aircraft operated by an airline go by the airline's callsign.
Specific aircraft formerly used by another airline may or may not have their registration numbers changed. Normally you can tell what airline is operating the aircraft by the registration numbers, for example at Hawaiian all of our aircraft are NxxxHA. It is who is operating the aircraft and not the registration numbers that determine call sign.
Operators can change their call signs with the FAA if they desire. Further, the name that the airline is operating under may or may not be the name on the operating certificate. An example I can think of is the regional airline Trans States. It was originally Resort Airlines and flew tourist to the Lake of the Ozarks under the call sign is Water Ski. As the years progressed, they started flying first under the name Trans World Express and then as Trans States Airlines but their air carrier certificate was issued to Resort Air and the call sign remains Water Ski.
Many of the former original NWA birds have a tail # suffixed w/ 'US' ... as in 'United States' ...
The plan -- post WW2 -- was to call the airline 'UNITED STATES AIRLINES' ... but somehow, that train derailed & left the track ... politics.
Check out the red/white/& blue color scheme(s), post WW2 and a few decades afterward, which were suppose to accompany the 'new' name:
The plan -- post WW2 -- was to call the airline 'UNITED STATES AIRLINES' ... but somehow, that train derailed & left the track ... politics.
Check out the red/white/& blue color scheme(s), post WW2 and a few decades afterward, which were suppose to accompany the 'new' name:
It was my understanding that "Water Ski" was carried over to Trans States (and the others) as the operator changed their names. I know with the university I'm at now, we have what amounts to a Letter of Authorization for specific tail numbers to be issued specific call signs. Do the airlines have to have a by registration number authorization, or is just a generic "aircraft operated by certificate holder" type of authorization. I've tried googling the subject, but haven't found much useful. I sure as hell don't want to dive into 14CFR on Memorial Day. Bleh!
Your university is probably operating under a 141 training certificate that has a call sign associated with it. Part of that certificate requires that the university notify the FAA what aircraft are being flown under the certificate.
Part 121, 125 & 135 (and even some part 91) operators are issue Operating Specifications. There is an Op Spec for everything including one that lists by registration number what aircraft are operating on the certificate.
Part 121, 125 & 135 (and even some part 91) operators are issue Operating Specifications. There is an Op Spec for everything including one that lists by registration number what aircraft are operating on the certificate.
Bit of history re. "Cactus" callsign.
In the 80s, there was a lot of ATC confusion with all the "wests." Skywest, America West, Southwest, Midwest, Sierra West, Western, Florida West, Sierra West, etc. airlines.
This caused so many safety issues with similar sounding callsigns, the FAA requested that America West change their callsign from "America West" to something else. The company then held a pilot contest, and the "Cactus" callsign was ultimately adopted. (Not my choice, BTW)
Years later when America West took over USAir, they kept the company name of the East - USAirways, but they arbitrarily decided to keep the old ATC callsign (much to the consternation of the former East pilots and delight of the West pilots) as "Cactus."
An airline's callsign is not dependant upon its operating certificate. Nor is it dependant upon the surviving entity in a merger. An airline's callsign is arbitrary, and with FAA coordination and agreement, may be changed at any time.
In the 80s, there was a lot of ATC confusion with all the "wests." Skywest, America West, Southwest, Midwest, Sierra West, Western, Florida West, Sierra West, etc. airlines.
This caused so many safety issues with similar sounding callsigns, the FAA requested that America West change their callsign from "America West" to something else. The company then held a pilot contest, and the "Cactus" callsign was ultimately adopted. (Not my choice, BTW)
Years later when America West took over USAir, they kept the company name of the East - USAirways, but they arbitrarily decided to keep the old ATC callsign (much to the consternation of the former East pilots and delight of the West pilots) as "Cactus."
An airline's callsign is not dependant upon its operating certificate. Nor is it dependant upon the surviving entity in a merger. An airline's callsign is arbitrary, and with FAA coordination and agreement, may be changed at any time.
No joke?? You started w/ America West?? For some reason, that escaped me.
"Did you know" a guy named 'Walt G. ' or ever fly with him?? His sister was a relatively famous pioneering race car driver for the distaff side ??? Walt was the baby or pretty damn close to it in my start-up class in Big Idiot (B.I.) ... I don't know where he came from prior to B.I.
No joke?? You started w/ America West?? For some reason, that escaped me.
"Did you know" a guy named 'Walt G. ' or ever fly with him?? His sister was a relatively famous pioneering race car driver for the distaff side ??? Walt was the baby or pretty damn close to it in my start-up class in Big Idiot (B.I.) ... I don't know where he came from prior to B.I.
Actually, I started with Continental, along with a large herd bailing out from NKX at the time. Chose them over UAL. Later got furloughed. Then got burned by Lorenzo. Struck them. Sued them. Won pennies on the dollar. Went to Pride Air. Lost all those pennies. Then worked for the San Diego Padres baseball team flying a 727. Good times. Ultimately ended up at AWA - low pay initially but a short 16-month upgrade to captain compensated - and then finally retired with USAirways.
Walt G? Didn't know him. A check of the old seniority list has a Walter L. Gu... hired in '85. He was probably on the 75 or 74, so I would not likely have known him, especially as a commuter.
Wow -- and I thought I'd been around the block once or twice: hired by 6, worked for 3. Amazing days ...
That's Walt -- I thought he started earlier than '85 ... he must have been sitting on the curb w/ a cup of pencils & a bottle of Ripple in a paper bag for the 3 years previous.
How you can tell that photo is old, is not from the attire, or the grainy image... not even the faded colors....
Notice the thin, attractive stewardesses (not gender neutral flight assistants or whatever pc term they have now)? That's how.
Yeah, guess I could have been more clear. All aircraft at an airline are flown under the operating certificate and are listed by registration in their Op Specs. The name that the airline is "Do Business As" (DBA) may not be the same name that is on their operating certificate. All aircraft flown by the airline use the airline's call sign. The call sign is coordinated with the FAA and may not always be reflective of the airline's name.
I figured that out a couple of months ago when I called the east guys "eastholes" and said what scumbags they were. Cat thanked me.
I have a lot of friends that were AWA including some that are now furloughed and shouldn't be (thanks to USAPA). I can't wait to see the appeals court uphold the DFR ruling, implement the Nicolau list and penalize the east clowns.
