Short Final

Editorial Staff

Sunday, March 12, 2017 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Canadian aircraft utilize an alphabetic registration system (e.g., C-ABCD).
U.S. air traffic controllers, particularly near the northern border, are often unfamiliar with this Canadian registration format.
This unfamiliarity leads to confusion and communication difficulties between Canadian aircraft and U.S. towers.

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Not many controllers away from the northern border of the U.S. are familiar with Canada’s alphabetic aircraft registration system and it can cause confusion.

C-ABCD: XXXX tower this Canadian Civil Charlie Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta. Request runway in use.

No response

C-ABCD: Again XXXX tower Canadian Civil Charlie Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta requesting runway in use.

No response

C-ABCD: Wichita tower,Canadian Civil Charlie Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta requesting runway in use.

XXXX Tower: Canadian alphabet soup aircraft calling XXXX tower please say again.

Pete Simpson