A CARJ CAPT EXPRESSES HOW HE THINKS THE DOUBLE-LETTER TXWY IDENT SYS AT IAH PRESENTS UNNECESSARY AND DANGEROUS CONFUSION.

Narrative

TAKING A LOOK AT IAH 70-9 ARPT CHART; CLRLY IDENTS ALL THE DOUBLE-LETTER IDENTS FOR EVERY TXWY. I UNDERSTAND THE 'N' FOR NORTH; 'S' FOR SOUTH; 'W' FOR WEST; AND 'E' FOR EAST PREFIX SYS. HOWEVER; IAH DOESN'T EVEN HAVE ENOUGH TXWYS TO EXHAUST THE BASIC 26 LETTERS OF THE ALPHABET. I HAVE SAT ON THE GND AT IAH AND LISTENED TO ALL THE CONGESTION AND MANY TIMES CONFUSION ON THE GND FREQ DUE ENTIRELY TO THIS DOUBLE-LETTER SYS. I AM SURE THAT A FEW DAY'S ANALYSIS OF THE GND CTL FREQ WILL SHOW AN INORDINATE AMOUNT OF RADIO CHATTER AS COMPARED TO OTHER ARPTS WITH THE SAME TFC VOLUME. SPECIFICALLY; ANALYZE THE NUMBER OF CORRECTIONS TO READBACKS AND THE AMOUNT OF TIME CTLRS SPEND ON REPEATING TAXI INSTRUCTIONS TO ELIMINATE PLT CONFUSION. THIS DOUBLE-LETTER IDENT IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF TAKING A VERY EFFICIENT AND SIMPLE SYS OF CTLING ACFT ON THE GND AND MAKING IT CONFUSING; COMPLICATED; DANGEROUS AND UNNECESSARY! CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH IAH AREA SUPVR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE TXWY IDENT SYS AT IAH IS SET UP TO DISTINGUISH THE 3 RWYS; AND THE ASSOCIATED AREA OF THE ARPT THEY OCCUPY; FROM ONE ANOTHER; IE; N; S; AND W. IN ADDITION; THE NUMBER OF TXWYS OUT NUMBERS THE LETTERS OF THE ALPHABET; SO SOME SORT OF NUMBER OR DOUBLE LETTER COMBINATION WAS NECESSARY. THE LATTER WAS USED.