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Sfo controller described a duplicate flight number event with both an arrival on final and an airborne departure having an identical flight number.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1108987 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201308 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | SFO.Airport |
| State Reference | CA |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B737-700 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Route In Use | None |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Aircraft 2 | |
| Make Model Name | B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Final Approach |
| Route In Use | Other Instrument Approach |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Local |
| Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
Traffic was moderately busy and complex with uneven pairs on final requiring close attention to determine which gaps would be departure holes. After a B737-700 was airborne; I noticed that another B737 with the same callsign inbound on final was the next to land on 28R; and I had already cleared him to land. This was the first time I noticed they had the same callsigns. Since I was shipping one to departure; I did not provide cautionary advisories to either aircraft. There did not appear to be any confusion in this instance during the event sequence and the pilots readback their respective take-off/landing clearances. Since the arrival was still airborne when the departure tagged up; the departure did not acquire its datablock and lca had to call ci-1 to advise them of the identical callsigns. [The airline] needs to use stubbed callsigns (i.e. With a letter suffix) when a continuing flight on a different aircraft leaves before the arriving flight. In the scan of my strips and the radar; I should have noticed the identical callsigns and provided the appropriate advisories to both aircraft.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: SFO Controller described a duplicate flight number event with both an arrival on final and an airborne departure having an identical flight number.
Narrative: Traffic was moderately busy and complex with uneven pairs on final requiring close attention to determine which gaps would be departure holes. After a B737-700 was airborne; I noticed that another B737 with the same callsign inbound on final was the next to land on 28R; and I had already cleared him to land. This was the first time I noticed they had the same callsigns. Since I was shipping one to departure; I did not provide cautionary advisories to either aircraft. There did not appear to be any confusion in this instance during the event sequence and the pilots readback their respective take-off/landing clearances. Since the arrival was still airborne when the departure tagged up; the departure did not acquire its datablock and LCA had to call CI-1 to advise them of the identical callsigns. [The airline] needs to use stubbed callsigns (i.e. with a letter suffix) when a continuing flight on a different aircraft leaves before the arriving flight. In the scan of my strips and the radar; I should have noticed the identical callsigns and provided the appropriate advisories to both aircraft.
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.