Narrative:

I was opening up ground control position. I had an aircraft call me and I missed the call sign; so I asked; 'was that air carrier abcd that called?' the aircraft answered; 'affirmative.' I noticed on the asde-X that the aircraft only had a beacon code showing that was associated with another aircraft I had in the 'awaiting to taxi' bay. I told the pilot of (who I thought was air carrier abcd) that he was squawking companies call sign. The pilot said; 'oh thank you I was wondering about that.' I thought that the aircraft air carrier abef may have gotten his clearance at or around the same time as air carrier abef; and he had just mixed up his squawk with his company's call sign. So I told him to squawk whatever code I had for air carrier abcd; because that's who I thought he was. When we listened to the tape; he originally called with the correct call sign of air carrier abef; I had missed that call; and asked if that was air carrier abcd who called and he said 'affirmative.' that's how I ended up giving him the squawk of air carrier abcd. The asde-X showed no indications of a 'dupe beacon' which; it will do if 2 aircraft are on the same squawk. So I thought everything was fine at that point and the issue was resolved. I did not use his call sign when I switched him to tower because he was the only aircraft on my frequency at that time. He did not read back a call sign when given the switch to tower either. That was my fault. I should have; and always do; use a call sign; I'm not sure why I did not that time. When the aircraft was on the runway; the local controller cleared him for take off and only noticed the call sign difference when the aircraft was switched to potomac TRACON; to which then; the local controller called over to the departure controller and fixed the issue. After listening to the local controller on the tape; the aircraft used his correct call sign of air carrier abef when they read back the take off clearance and the local controller did not catch the call sign error at that time. I will be and have been since; very careful about aircraft call signs; squawk codes and read backs. I could have done more of an investigation on the aircraft since they were squawking another aircraft's call sign and asked their destination. I am aware of how things can get confused and I have realized how important it is to make sure call sign and squawk are correctly associated with aircraft identification.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Multiple Air Traffic controllers and an Air Carrier Captain described a confused clearance and call sign event that resulted in an unsafe condition with several controllers confused as to the identity and route of an IFR departure.

Narrative: I was opening up Ground Control position. I had an aircraft call me and I missed the call sign; so I asked; 'Was that Air Carrier ABCD that called?' The aircraft answered; 'Affirmative.' I noticed on the ASDE-X that the aircraft only had a beacon code showing that was associated with another aircraft I had in the 'awaiting to taxi' bay. I told the pilot of (who I thought was Air Carrier ABCD) that he was squawking companies call sign. The pilot said; 'Oh thank you I was wondering about that.' I thought that the aircraft Air Carrier ABEF may have gotten his clearance at or around the same time as Air Carrier ABEF; and he had just mixed up his squawk with his company's call sign. So I told him to squawk whatever code I had for Air Carrier ABCD; because that's who I thought he was. When we listened to the tape; he originally called with the correct call sign of Air Carrier ABEF; I had missed that call; and asked if that was Air Carrier ABCD who called and he said 'affirmative.' That's how I ended up giving him the squawk of Air Carrier ABCD. The ASDE-X showed no indications of a 'dupe beacon' which; it will do if 2 aircraft are on the same squawk. So I thought everything was fine at that point and the issue was resolved. I did not use his call sign when I switched him to Tower because he was the only aircraft on my frequency at that time. He did not read back a call sign when given the switch to Tower either. That was my fault. I should have; and always do; use a call sign; I'm not sure why I did not that time. When the aircraft was on the runway; the Local Controller cleared him for take off and only noticed the call sign difference when the aircraft was switched to Potomac TRACON; to which then; the Local Controller called over to the Departure Controller and fixed the issue. After listening to the Local Controller on the tape; the aircraft used his correct call sign of Air Carrier ABEF when they read back the take off clearance and the Local Controller did not catch the call sign error at that time. I will be and have been since; VERY careful about aircraft call signs; squawk codes and read backs. I could have done more of an investigation on the aircraft since they were squawking another aircraft's call sign and asked their destination. I am aware of how things can get confused and I have realized how important it is to make sure call sign and squawk are correctly associated with aircraft ID.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.