If I’m flying a Cessna 172, I’ll announce myself (made-up registration numbers, of course) as ‘Cessna 1-2-3-4-Kilo’. If I’m in a PA-28, I’ll announce myself as ‘Piper 4-5-6-7-Yankee’. If I’m in a Schweizer 300CB or a Robinson R22, I’ll be ‘Helicopter 8-6-7-4-8’.
Simple enough, right? But suppose I win the lottery and buy a Cessna 400. Logically and accurately, I’d be ‘Cessna 2-7-1-8-Tango’ (or whatever). But the Cessna 400 was made by (the former) Columbia Aircraft, and before that it was the Lancair. If I were to see one in flight or on the ramp, I’d call it a Lancair. ‘Cessna’ implies a certain set of shapes. If I’m flying somewhere and ATC informs me of ‘Cessna traffic, one o’clock, three miles’ I’m going to be looking for a Cessna-shape. Similarly, if I identify as a Cessna I’d expect ATC to be looking for a Cessna-shape. So if I’m flying a Cessna-made Lancair (nb: they don’t call it that), would identifying myself as a Cessna cause confusion in the tower? If I announce as a Lancair, even though I’m technically in a Cessna, the tower will look for a Lancair-shape – which I am. But would that be acceptable?
Well, back when I flew ultralights and homebuilts there was the problem of ATC not knowing what the heck I was flying. In one case I said “I’m in an XXXX which has roughly the same speed capabilities of a Cessna YYY”, which ATC apparently found helpful for traffic control. But I would NOT have called it “an XXXX”, just said it looks like one.
In your case, I’d announce “Cessna 400” and if ATC expresses confusion then I would say "Looks like a Lancair*. I would not misidentify the airplane, but saying it resembles a different make, like mentioning the color of the wings or whatever, is for ease of identification. Since so many Cessnas are high wings I might also clarify that it is a low wing Cessna single (it is a single, right?), but that depends on whether or not ATC seems to know what a C-400 is or isn’t, and how busy the radio frequency is.
The problem with ‘Cessna 400’ is that you’d call ‘Cessna four hundred 4-4-7-7-Bravo’. The ‘400’ might be taken as part of the N-number (at least at first). It really needs a distinctive name, like ‘Skyhawk’, ‘Stationair’ or ‘Skymaster’. (I assume a 402 could be called ‘Cessna Twin’.)
Most of my fixed-wing flying was in the Mojave Desert, where things are pretty calm (except the winds ). All of my helicopter flying was in the L.A. area, where it can be difficult to get a word in edgewise. Down there, they like you to keep it short and fast; so explanatory transmissions might be unwelcome.
BTW: Dad you ever make an ‘Ask the ultralight pilot’ thread?
There are Cessna 350 and 400 based at my home field. They use Columbia as their callsign. Their ICAO identifiers are also COL3 and COL4, respectively. (cite).
I was going to suggest, if you’re going to frequent a towered airport, you could call the tower (best to do this when traffic is relatively slow) and ask their opinion. That way you won’t have to guess, and neither will they.
We used to self announce the Super-Cub as “High Winged Piper yada yada yada”. Clues other pilots what to look for and where your blind spots are. No reason you couldn’t say “low-winged Cessna” for the Lancair. No different than an airline using “cactus” for a call sign, or the NM air guard’s “Taco”.
No, actually I did not - guess I never felt “expert” enough to take that on, but perhaps I know enough to educate the groundpounders. Maybe I’ll start one in the near future.
I delivered a used Cessna 400 to a buyer in December, it was the first “Cessna” branded Columbia I’ve flown. I called myself Columbia. Most of the legs were IFR, so the controllers all had strips with my type printed right in front of them. I haven’t heard/seen anyone in a COL3/4 call themselves Cessna yet. That might mean there aren’t any airplanes flying around here with Cessna stickers on the sides, but I doubt it.
Why don’t you call “Cessna four hundred November 4 4 7 7 Bravo”? In Europe it is obligatory (on first contact) to use the full callsign including the national prefix November, Golf, Echo India, or whatever.
Well, yeah, but there’s a lot more country prefixes in Europe than in North America (we have just C, N, and X) and a lot more coming and going between different countries.
I learned to fly in Santa Fe, NM a few months after Cessna bought Lancair.
Santa Fe is a towered airport with no radar. There was a guy flying around the area for a few days in a Cessna-built Columbia 400, using “Cessna 1-2-3-4-5”. After he flew in a few times, I heard the tower tell him “I know Cessna bought Lancair, but please just call yourself a Columbia, otherwise we’re going to think you’re a high-wing”.
Any callsign in the USA will be assumed to be a November callsign unless stated otherwise. In Australia (and New Zealand) only the last three letters of the registration need to be used unless it is not a VH (or ZK for New Zealand) callsign. So if Johnny flew to Aus he would be N4477B until such time as ATC abbreviated it for him.
Calling yourself “Cessna” could be confusing even if you were flying a real Cessna such as a Citation.
I think the dropping of the national prefix domestically is fairly common in many countries. I’ve had a chance to fly in Hong Kong a while ago, where all the registrations were in the form VR-H**. Only the last two characters were ever used.
On a related note, Canadian ATC does say something like “Cessna one seven two November 4 4 7 7 Bravo” to an American, or, let’s say, “Cessna one seven two Alpha Romeo Tango” to a Canadian with registration C-FART. I’ve never heard an American ATC uses the model number of a Cessna in the callsign, though.
I’ve had the pleasure of sharing the pattern with an aircraft identifying itself as “Boeing 1234A” (or some other US registration). It could have been anything from a 747 to a restored Monomail, but turned out to be a BBJ (private 737).
BTW, isn’t there only 1 airport in Hong Kong? Where can you fly from there - Macao and back?
There are actually 2 airports. Most of the GA flying takes place in Sek Kong, which is a military airfield hidden away deep in the mountains. But yeah, you won’t be able to reach much of anywhere else in a typical GA aircraft. Most of the flyings are just local leisure flights.
). All of my helicopter flying was in the L.A. area, where it can be difficult to get a word in edgewise. Down there, they like you to keep it short and fast; so explanatory transmissions might be unwelcome.