UConnQB14

just out of curiosity, what does ATC refer to military aircraft as, or conversely, what do pilots refer to themselves as when dealing with ATC? or do they not deal with ATC at all except for military specific controllers?

i have gotten the occasional, "traffic is 3 o clock and 8 miles, C-5" but what does that exchange sound like?

Herc130AV8R

Not sure what you are getting at. We are talking on the same center frequencies as the rest of ya'll. We have call signs based on what type of mission we are flying. We don't have military specific controllers in the U.S. In other countries (namely Germany) there are military specific controllers that keep us on frequencies apart from the Civ traffic. Is that what you wanted??

Pitchlock

If we get called you might hear. "Navy LL30 direct hampton" the LL is the squadron designator and the 30 is the pilot call sign number in that squadron.

JMT21

I think he was looking for call signs. Most are pretty interesting. My understanding is in the airforce you kind of 'earn' your callsign. One of my buddies brother and now wife attended the USAFA together. She was a year ahead of him and out ranked him, so got the callsign 'Worm' (Woman Out Ranks Me). I've heard the story of one guy who was always preaching about God, his call sign was 'Preacher.' The KC-135's at G.F. AFB all seem to use the callsign 'Raid.' I've heard Navy guys at an airshow using 'Expert.' I've heard a C-17 practicing touch and go's using 'Cenex.' For you military guys out there, do entire units use the same call sign, or is it individgual-each pilot has and uses his/her own call sign?

Blackhawk

Unless there is a unit callsign (which must be approved by the FAA, much like airline callsigns), the aircraft will use the service (Navy, Army, Marine, Coast Guard, Guard for National Guard), followed by the tail number. E.g.- Guard 26599. VIP aircraft of all services are given the callsign PAT (for Priority Air Transport). You will here everything from Gulfstreams and Blackhawks carrying a general to a C-5 carrying the Presidents motorcade using this.
Some times we will add "copter" to help distinguish the type for ATC- "Guard Copter 26599".
Most of the FAA approved callsigns have some history to them, or a tie to the unit. Gator is a unit with a tie to U of F; Red Dog a Marine unit with ties to U of G; etc.
Then there are the well known military callsigns such as Air Force 1, Marine 1, Air Force 2, etc.
I think there are some others, but I don't have the General Planning guide that covers all of them with me at the moment.

Herc130AV8R

OK here's how it works (in the Air Force airlift world at least).The call sign used for the airplane with ATC has nothing to do with your "callsign" name that your budies give you (i.e. "Maverick" and "Goose"). In the Air Force we have specific call signs for specific missions. My squadron has the same call sign for all locally directed training missions with only the number prefix changing ("Raven XX"). If we get tasked to do a mission (non-training), the call sign is directed by higher headquarters. You don't get to just choose your callsign. Different types of A.F. aircraft could be operating with the same callsign with a different number suffix if they are both on a similar mission. For example, a C-5 carrying limo's for the president and a C-130 carrying some secret service personnel might have the callsigns of "Reach 123" and "Reach 987". The "Reach" prefix is a commonly used callsign for militrary airlift missions around the world. These various callsigns are all pre-approved and assigned to a given mission type regardless of aircraft type or unit. Hope that clears it up a bit.

JMT21

Clears it all up thanks. So I guess I wasn't completely lied to...your buddies will give you their own call signs as you say. Is this a pretty common thing...do most the af pilot have a 'buddy' callsign?

Herc130AV8R

NO!! It's really only a fighter thing. Us airlift guys tend to make fun of the whole "callsign" mentality of the fighter community. In the fighter world, the callsign is all a guy will go by. Everybody is known by their callsign. It pretty much becomes their new name in the squadron. Some fighter guys won't even be able to tell you a guys real first and last name because they don't know!

SkyBusDriver

I was a "Raven" from '97 to '01. How's life in the 61st these days?

Herc130AV8R

It's alright. We're flying H3's now!! The 50th ain't as cool as they thought they were anymore! Deployment rate is finally starting to slow down a bit. I did 4 months over Christmas and should have at least a year off till I go again! Hopefully I'll get a PCS before than. You out now?