Experimentals and ATC

[AggieMike88]

On my flight to the Texas Panhandle and back yesterday, I was on FF for the entire trip. Good weather had lots of people up flying and the frequencies were pretty active. And a few of the folks flying were in experimental aircraft.

That got me wondering how the controllers keep up with what type of experimental it is. The certified aircraft give the controller some sort of clue as to the performance (like my Skylane versus a Twin Cessna versus a Pilatus). But how is that done for experimentals?

 

[Jim Logajan]

In theory, your aircraft registration is also considered by the FCC to embody the authority to transmit on the aircraft band, so it should be in your initial contact somewhere. (Not just "orange Bonanza" or the like.)

This must not be an enforcement priority for the FCC, because it's common practice by pilots to omit the "N" from the number. The remaining portion of the N-number is not a legal callsign in the US, where all callsigns begin with K, W, A or N by international agreement.

Title 47: Telecommunication
PART 87—AVIATION SERVICES
Subpart C—Operating Requirements and Procedures
§ 87.107 Station identification.

(a) Aircraft station. Identify by one of the following means1) Aircraft radio station call sign.
(2) The type of aircraft followed by the characters of the registration marking (“N” number) of the aircraft, omitting the prefix letter “N.” When communication is initiated by a ground station, an aircraft station may use the type of aircraft followed by the last three characters of the registration marking. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, an aircraft being moved by maintenance personnel from one location in an airport to another location in that airport may be identified by a station identification consisting of the name of the company owning or operating the aircraft, followed by the word “Maintenance” and additional alphanumeric characters of the licensee's choosing.
(3) The FAA assigned radiotelephony designator of the aircraft operating organization followed by the flight identification number.
(4) An aircraft identification approved by the FAA for use by aircraft stations participating in an organized flying activity of short duration.