Short Final: Alphabet Soup

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Members of the Windsor Flying Club make an annual VFR trip from Canada to the Bahamas.
  • U.S. air traffic controllers, particularly in southern regions, often struggle with the longer Canadian call signs.
  • During one busy flight following session, a Jacksonville controller humorously referred to a pilot's Canadian call sign as "alphabet soup."
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Pre-pandemic, a group of Windsor Flying Club members based at CYQG made an annual excursion to the Bahama Islands from Canada. Our experience with the U.S. controllers is that the further south you go the more trouble the controllers have with our Canadian call signs: more letters than they are used to. We fly VFR and use flight following.

On one occasion, I was handed off to Jacksonville, which was very busy at the time. I waited for a brief break in the chatter and dutifully dropped in my call sign, Charlie Golf Charlie Alpha Golf and waited. Moments later at the next break came my response from the controller, “would the alphabet soup out there say again.”

Neil Arnold

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