Triple 4, double charlie - does it annoy you?

[Lowflynjack]

I grew up flying in a 172 that was N19998. No, we didn't say "One Niner Niner Niner Eight", we said "One Triple Niner Eight". We flew into Amarillo so often the tower would say, "welcome back Triple Niner Eight". I have a lot of fond memories in that plane.

Unfortunately a dumbass took off with four people, two dogs, and ski equipment on a hot day an destroyed the plane. Luckily they all walked away.

 

[Lindberg]

If I identified myself as 235CT, would it annoy you because that's not my N number? How would you even know? As long as he said the same thing on each call, you know who it is, which is the point of the call sign.

 

[Lowflynjack]

I just thought about my Cessna 140. It was N90098. I did not say "Niner Double Zero Niner Eight" but maybe that would have helped!

One ATC guy always had trouble repeating it back correctly. "Niner Zero Niner Zero Eight" "Niner Niner Zero Niner Eight". Finally one day I told him it was "Eight Boob" if you turned it upside down... 86006... he came back and said "Roger, niner zero zero niner eight!" He never got it wrong again, and always seemed to be giggling a little.

 

[cowtowner]

My airplane has 222 in the registration

The one who uses “triple 2” the most is the controllers (and my wife)

 

[Gilbert Buettner]

If I identified myself as 235CT, would it annoy you because that's not my N number? How would you even know?

ADSB out? I see call signs on my iPad.

 

[ateamer]

Insisting on “niner” isn’t really necessary 99% of the time. They came up with “niner” to distinguish the number nine from the German word “nein” (no) because it’s an international phonetic alphabet. For the vast majority of our flying inside the US, not much chance that there’s going to be a German on the frequency at the same airport, and if there is, not much chance that saying “nine” instead of “niner” will make him think your callsign is “three four six no alpha” or you’re landing on runway “no”.

Much like “tree” and “fife”, those are to accommodate languages that don’t have a “th” sound or where v is pronunced like w. No one is going to swap paint because you say three or five.

Just talk. It’s not complicated.

 

[Lindberg]

ADSB out? I see call signs on my iPad.

Valid point, but you see what I set it to.

 

[hindsight2020]

I grew up flying in a 172 that was N19998. No, we didn't say "One Niner Niner Niner Eight", we said "One Triple Niner Eight". We flew into Amarillo so often the tower would say, "welcome back Triple Niner Eight". I have a lot of fond memories in that plane.

Unfortunately a dumbass took off with four people, two dogs, and ski equipment on a hot day an destroyed the plane. Luckily they all walked away.

Must be the curse of the triple inverted sixes, a similar fate befell 999sk at Purdue. That one left two fatalities. Drunk fbo flunkie took his extended family member for an early morning joy ride after a night of drinking, stole the keys, launched into low imc as a non instrument pilot, didn't make it very far.

I think I may have still been on the rental queue that week, just like my rental the morning of 9/11, always finding out my rental had been canceled under the worst of circumstances.

 

[Dana]

Insisting on “niner” isn’t really necessary 99% of the time. They came up with “niner” to distinguish the number nine from the German word “nein”

People who insist on "niner" are usually those who sat in the front row of their classroom when they were kids, or want to make sure everybody knows they're a pilot.

Dana,
who sat in the back row and whose new plane is "triple one edge".

 

[JScarry]

Hearing it doesn't seem to bother me, if anyone I fault the person requesting silly registration characters.
"November xxx Echo Echo" - well, it was funny the first thousand times.

Our first plane was 1EE and it never occurred to me that it was funny until your post.

 

[Chrisgoesflying]

In Canada, we only have letters as call signs. I once owned a plane with the sign Foxtrot, Uniform, Sierra, Hotel. First time I flew to the U.S. most controllers, just called me Fush. When I first heard it, I was a bit confused and answered with Foxtrot, Uniform, Sierra, Hotel. They kept calling me Fush so at some point I just went along with it. Initial contact I always said Foxtrot, Uniform, Sierra, Hotel. 9 out of 10 controllers would respond to with "Fush, maintain VFR, advice of altitude changes."

 

[frfly172]

ATC may not like it if you don’t give them the actual numbers. There are perfectionists among us.

 

[luvflyin]

In Canada, we only have letters as call signs. I once owned a plane with the sign Foxtrot, Uniform, Sierra, Hotel. First time I flew to the U.S. most controllers, just called me Fush. When I first heard it, I was a bit confused and answered with Foxtrot, Uniform, Sierra, Hotel. They kept calling me Fush so at some point I just went along with it. Initial contact I always said Foxtrot, Uniform, Sierra, Hotel. 9 out of 10 controllers would respond to with "Fush, maintain VFR, advice of altitude changes."

That kinda surprises me that a Controller would be the one to initiate the ‘short hand’.’ But I didn’t always work right on the border. There was a Mexican registered plane, XBAMO, who was a regular customer flying out of Van Nuys KVNY. He was known as ‘ex bammo.’ I dunno who first did it, him, or a Controller.

 

[mryan75]

Just a completely meaningless rant here, but I was returning from a xc earlier today and someone at a different airport on my home drome's frequency was doing TNGs in the pattern. "Field XYZ, Cessna triple five tango...blah blah". Every leg. Triple five tango (N number revised to protect the guilty). There is another plane in my area that I often hear that says double mike in his N number.

I don't know why I was so cranky about it today, but I just wanted to tell triple five tango that triple five tango has the exact same amount of syllables as five five five tango and you're not cool. I also have found it humorous that double mike actually adds a syllable to his N number.

Am I alone in this annoyance?
Would you ever blindly tell them?

It’s idiotic and arrogant. The question shouldn’t be whether it annoys us but rather how much nonsense in the radio we’re willing to tolerate. Yes, it annoys me, and yes, I could see it being problematic if people just start making up whatever they feel like saying on the radio.

 

[morleyz]

If I identified myself as 235CT, would it annoy you because that's not my N number? How would you even know? As long as he said the same thing on each call, you know who it is, which is the point of the call sign.

I wouldn't know, but you would also be in violation of 87.107(a). My point was not that it wasn't their exact tail number, but more that it's non standard phraseology and in some cases the abbreviation making the radio call longer or confusing the pilot/ATC.

 

[rwellner98]

My N-number has five different digits. After my initial call as Ercoupe 12345 in the pattern or entering the pattern, I just say Ercoupe “turning base for 22” (or whatever). Keeps it short and distinctive. Non-towered fields, of course.

I used to do that, but became convinced by others that in the ADSB era it was better to use call signs. They can see me on their devices much further away than they can identify my type looking out the window. And, since the entire point is situational awareness, it seemed better to be able to assemble that mental map sooner rather than later.

My airplane has 222 in the registration

The one who uses “triple 2” the most is the controllers (and my wife)

Same. I miss my Triple 2 Tango Foxtrot.

Interestingly, my experience was that in the US ATC would call us that only about 10% of the time. In Mexico it had to be 60-70%.

 

[Ventucky Red]

Heard at one airport someone using Cessna Triple 7... ATC didn't seem to mind, and to think about, there was definitely no confusion on who was communicating.

 

[SkyChaser]

I used to fly "double 3 triple 4", although I never thought to shorten it like that. If I had, I could have really twisted the OP's knickers with two instances of shorthand in every call! Making pattern calls for 33444 for runway 34 was funny, though.