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A different twist on picking your N number

Veetail88

Veetail88

Well Known Member
While a lot of us labor over choosing an N number, there are other considerations to make before choosing.

When I chose mine, I didn't have any initials or anything that had any weight in my decision. Instead, I chose based on something easy enough that sounded kind of cool. November two two niner zulu! Rolls off the tongue right?

Well I spent the last couple of days flying down to New Orleans and back here to Wisconsin and used flight following most of the way down and back. Every time I was handed off, the controller would give me the nearest altimeter setting. Well I never saw this coming.

"November two two niner zulu, radar contact, altimeter is two niner niner zero".

"two niner niner zero, two two niner zulu" was my reply.........I think.....

Seemed like I was tongue tied with every call! :D
 
Staying away from "Niners"

After flying the family 172, N79599, for over 20 years, I promised myself I'd never choose an N-number with "Niners" in it. Almost every time, the initial contact goes like this:

Me: Anytown Approach, Cessna Seven-Niner-Fife-Niner-Niner.

ATC: Cessna Seven-Niner-Niner-Fife-Niner, Anytown Approach, say request.

Me: Anytown Approach, this is Cessna Seven-Niner-Fife-Niner-Niner.

ATC: OK, Cessna Seven-Fife-Niner-Niner-Niner, er, ah, say again your N-Number, Cessna.

Me: Anytown, this is Cessna Seven-Niner-Fife-Niner-Niner.

ATC: Got it, go ahead Cessna Fife-Niner-Niner.

And from then on, if I just say "Cessna Fife-Niner-Niner," or even "Skyhawk Fife-Niner-Niner," things go so much better.

Of course if I'm talking to Chicago Center, I get no reply because they just refuse to talk to me.

So for my RV, I have reserved N517D.
 
My wife and I were almost in tears on a flight one day last year listening to a poor KC center controller trying to communicate with N600ZZ.

Every time the poor fellow addressed "November six zero zero zulu zulu" things just didn't come out as planned.
 
What does it take to change your N number?

I have a T-6, N49939. Same issue as above. I quickly revert to "Texan Niner Three Niner", which works most of the time.

How big of a hassle is changing?
 
Thanks. I just "Googled" it, and you're right, doesn't look too bad.

Now to figure out what new one I'd like to have........... :confused:
 
I picked "November one niner mike mike" because it's super easy to say and close enough to 20MM (the round used in the F16), which is where I started. (But 20MM is already taken!)
 
I agree easy to say is a factor. I used to terach in a C150 that was N61111. I taught the students to say 61 (pause) 111. ATC would almost always come back "111" and all was good.
My newest number includes my wife's initials. That has obvious benefits.
 
Changed my previous airplane to 114PL after weeks of repeating the number over and over to be certain it was easy to say. Part of the wife's birthday and her initials. Worked great for years. Built airplane, need number. 224PL. 2nd in the Papa Lima series. Rolls right off the tounge. Easy to remember. First year, every other call to ATC began: 114.....224PL. It is better now but still happens.
 
jnmeade said:
My newest number includes my wife's initials. That has obvious benefits.
Click to expand...

Two friends independently chose to put their wedding anniversary (year/month) on the tail:
immediate benefits are nice, but outweighed by that reminder every time they (and their wives!) see the plane

(Yes, I have forgotten my anniversary...:eek:)
 
N-number

I had a few when I selected mine and spent a lot of time hearing the last few in my head to narrow it down. You gents are exactly right. You're going to say it a lot and listen for the last three just as much. It's not a trivial choice.
 
Whiskey Golf!

I'm just lucky to have what I feel are the two coolest initials in the IFA! And 911 is my day job. One Whiskey Golf just rolls of the tongue.
Bill
 
Mine's 427DK, and the "seven delta kilo" has a nice cadence and is ultra-easy to say quickly. So much better than the flight school's Cherokee with 'zero zero uniform" :eek:
 
Uncle's Phone number

I know it's off topic, but my uncle was a WWII bomber pilot, so it kinda fits. His last name was Hastings, as in The Battle of... He somehow got Ma Bell to give him a phone number that ended 1066. My aunt still has the number, and I've never had to look it up. John
 
You and I are thinking alike! :) I did that same search yesterday, and I like it.

Further, I have a plane that is N43TX. So I thought I'd get one that ends in -3TX, that way whatever plane I'm flying it will be "-3TX" :p;)
 
PCHunt said:
You and I are thinking alike! :) I did that same search yesterday, and I like it.

Further, I have a plane that is N43TX. So I thought I'd get one that ends in -3TX, that way whatever plane I'm flying it will be "-3TX" :p;)
Click to expand...

Well then., grab 643TX. Then the T-6 starts with "6" -- perfect!
 
I had chosen 262WB... It had to have a "whiskey" in it since my last name is Walker and I'm a bourbon drinker, so that was a given. WB were my dads initials,and my birthday is 2/6 and my wife's is 11/6 (2 "6" birthdays).
I put a lot of thought into how "2 Whiskey Bravo" was going to sound.. seemed nice and easy. Here around Sand Diego it's busy, and flying IFR, I'm on the radio ALOT!! So it was important
My wife vetoed the idea because of the name of her EX, so the B had to go.
So now it's 265WD... still the 2 "6"s, We got married in May, "5" and WD for Walker, Deborah...
But Fife Whiskey Delta still rolls off the tongue quite well...
I guess you gotta pick your battles :) First world problems right?
 
So, ..... let me get this straight.......

................Your name is John Walker,... and you drink BOURBON? :p

So do I, BTW, but I couldn't resist...............:eek:
 
Personally I would go with the fewest number of syllables to speak. Cuts down on the time spent on call signs.

There is an airplane that commonly does practice approaches around Youngstown that has a tail number ending in "Zero-Three-Zero." I think the contollers like to mess with the pilots of that one because they're always vectoring them on headings of 030 or similar. It makes for some funny back-and-forth on occasion.
 
PCHunt said:
So, ..... let me get this straight.......

................Your name is John Walker,... and you drink BOURBON? :p

So do I, BTW, but I couldn't resist...............:eek:
Click to expand...

Yeah...I get that all the time... I go by Johnnie Walker yet I don't drink Scotch... I've tried the best, just can't do it. Good bourbon all the way.
The other little ditty of Irony, I grew up in a small town in Va named Kilmarnock. There's two Kilmarnocks on the planet, mine and the one in Scotland.... which is where Johnnie Walker Scotch is made!! Weird right? Not my parents planning, just family names that happen to come together....
 
When I switched countries and N became G, I had to pick a new callsign.
So I went for one with appropriate visual impact and a snappy 'Victor-Victor' callsign:
001000448.jpg
 
Bluelabel said:
Yeah...I get that all the time... I go by Johnnie Walker yet I don't drink Scotch... I've tried the best, just can't do it. Good bourbon all the way.
The other little ditty of Irony, I grew up in a small town in Va named Kilmarnock. There's two Kilmarnocks on the planet, mine and the one in Scotland.... which is where Johnnie Walker Scotch is made!! Weird right? Not my parents planning, just family names that happen to come together....
Click to expand...

His name is Johnnie Walker, his Forum ID is Blue Label, and he doesn't drink scotch...
 
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings

"And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings" N234FT
 
I have been taking lessons out of BOI and the Archer I am flying has just one letter at the end - J. My choice before I started flying at a towered airport was 319RD. After all the communication I have to do just to move from the hangar, I figured one letter was the easiest. Then I tried all the letters and figured Echo was the easiest and quickest to say so now I am 376E.
 
esco said:
Two friends independently chose to put their wedding anniversary (year/month) on the tail:
immediate benefits are nice, but outweighed by that reminder every time they (and their wives!) see the plane

(Yes, I have forgotten my anniversary...:eek:)
Click to expand...

OK... but what happens if there's a disillusionment and you end up buying out your wife's contract and make her a free agent? If you somehow manage to hang on to the aircraft after negotiations are complete you have a constant reminder of the previous contract. Ugh. :p
 
Decided to have a little fun with my trail number

My first choice was taken so I went with a combination of my birthday, model number, and my initials. I can't wait to hear ATC call for 247BS!

BTW, 24 is the day of the month, not the year.

Brian
 
YEP!

PCHunt said:
You and I are thinking alike! :)
Further, I have a plane that is N43TX. So I thought I'd get one that ends in -3TX, that way whatever plane I'm flying it will be "-3TX" :p;)
Click to expand...

My RV is N168TX. For the biplane I have reserved N68TX.
 
N number

I have always liked N711. It was on a Twin Beach that I flew a long time ago. It will never be available. I have N18711. Seven eleven, I can't use it, does someone want it?:(
 
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