Why do they always call me Skyhawk?

[Deelee]

You can rid yourself of the embarrassment of being called a Skyhawk by getting yourself a cool callsign, like GRFFN01.

If you have a cool callsign, you better be able to do more than 100 knots on approach or in the pattern. Even more embarrassing than being called a Skyhawk would be to have a cool callsign like Maverick or something and then have to tell ATC that you can't maintain 180 to the FAF. Or saying "Maverick is turning left base..." while basically hovering with those big ol' flaps hanging down.

 

[RussR]

I'm not sure what use would such callsign be when one flies in the national (or, for that matter, International) airspace. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there are only two types of callsigns one can use while communicating with ATC. For general aviation (non-scheduled flights), it is the aircraft registration number (normally preceded by the type or make of the aircraft). For scheduled flights, it is the airline identifier, followed by the flight number.

Oh man, there are TONS of callsigns used for non-airline use. Everything from anonymizers ("Dotcom" and "Foreflight" etc.) to flight schools to "Execjet" etc. Heck, Garmin has an approved callsign ("GMN").

There's a whole regulation on how to request a call sign, it's in the FAA JO 7610.12A. And to see what callsigns are assigned, that's in the 7340.2H.

No, you can't make up your own. But to say there are no callsigns other than airliners is not correct.

 

[Albany Tom]

This makes me want to start a flight school, just to register the LLC with the callsign "Tortoise". "Tortoise 345, is that your best speed?" "Affirmative, Tortoise 345". Set the expectations properly right out of the box.