1999-04 · NASA ASRS report 435953
A CPR LJ31 FLC DSNDED IN RESPONSE TO ANOTHER ACFT'S CLRNC AND LATER ACCEPTED A FREQ CHANGE INTENDED FOR THAT SAME ACFT.
ACTING AS SIC ON A LEAR JET 31A ENRTE FROM CLEVELAND; OH; TO NORFOLK; VA; OUR ACFT WAS GIVEN A DSCNT FROM ZOB TO FL190. ONLY AFTER 3 FREQ CHANGES TO ZDC AND AT LAST 150 MI LATER THAT WE WERE FIRST MADE AWARE THAT WE WERE AT THE WRONG ALT. ZDC GAVE US THE PHONE NUMBER OF ZOB AND A PHONE CALL WAS SUBSEQUENTLY MADE UPON ARR IN NORFOLK. APPARENTLY WE TOOK A DSCNT CLRNC FROM ANOTHER ACFT WITH A SIMILAR CALL SIGN AND THEN TOOK THAT ACFT'S FREQ CHANGE SOON THEREAFTER. THERE WAS SOME MISUNDERSTANDING BTWN CTLRS AND WE CONTINUED OUR DSCNT; UNAWARE OF THE PROB. I BELIEVE THIS IS A CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF PLT/CTLR MISCOM. FACTORS AFFECTING THE PROB WERE MAX COCKPIT WIND NOISE AT FL270 IN THE LEAR JET; AND FREQ CONGESTION. ALSO THE BEGINNING OF THE CALL SIGN WAS PERHAPS CLIPPED OFF AS THE CTLR KEYED HIS MIKE. I ALSO BELIEVE WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MADE AWARE OF SIMILAR CALL SIGNS ON THE SAME FREQ. THIS WOULD HAVE ALERTED BOTH FLCS OF A POTENTIAL COM CONFLICT. IN THE FUTURE; I WILL BE MORE AWARE OF PROBS STEMMING FROM SIMILAR CALL SIGNS.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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