There is a slight difference in the way aircraft call signs are treated in the US and
this is worthy of a brief mention to avoid confusion later. Civil aircraft in the US with
an N registration do not use the N prefix to their call sign. For identification purposes
the aircraft manufacturers name or model is stated instead.
For example a Cessna 172 with the registration N - 54321 would use the call sign
Cessna - 54321. Following the establishment of satisfactory two way communications, the
call sign may then be abbreviated to Cessna - 321. As a further example, a Piper Warrior,
registration N - 12345 would use the call sign Warrior - 12345 which is then abbreviated
to Warrior - 345. In some circumstances a mixture of numbers and letters may be included
in the aircraft registration, for example a Bonanza registered as N - 123AB and this
aircraft would use the call sign Bonanza - 123AB, abbreviated to Bonanza - 3AB.
These differences are designed to make identification of an aircraft’s
performance considerably easier, especially at uncontrolled airfields where a number of
aircraft with different performance capabilities could be operating at the same time. For
example, I regularly fly from an uncontrolled airfield which is used by a number of large
twin-engined aircraft, such as a Beech King Air, and even by some of the smaller jets such
as the Cessna Citation, when there are also a number of light aircraft in the circuit.
Obviously the Citation would encounter problems in joining the circuit behind a Cessna 150
and by using the call sign ‘Citation three two one’, the pilot is able to easily
alert other aircraft to his speed and performance capability. More than once I have
extended my downwind leg at an airfield in order to accommodate faster aircraft on a long
final.
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