Narrative:

I was working ar-a during trips [three finals]; east; prm's (precision runway monitor) with a strong southwest wind. Aircraft Z was in the back of the box at 4000 MSL on a northwesterly heading. I intended to turn this aircraft right to a heading of 350; but instead I used a similar sounding call sign of an aircraft on the downwind; aircraft X. It was a simple mistake of thinking one call sign but saying the other. Aircraft X read back the 350 heading correctly. I made a couple more transmissions and then noticed the track of the downwind aircraft turning northbound. Due to the strong south winds aircraft X picked up significant ground speed as they took their northbound turn. I immediately told that aircraft to continue their right turn immediately to a 150 heading and did my best to issue traffic to aircraft X because they were in close proximity to another aircraft already established on the final; aircraft Y. Aircraft X reported they were IMC or in the clouds. I attempted to issue traffic to aircraft Y on the final before realizing that aircraft had already been switched to tower/prm frequency. Using a climb or descent was not an option because by the time I realized my mistake both aircraft were at 3000 MSL; and there were numerous aircraft on the other finals at 4000 and above. Other than the obvious (not saying the wrong call sign); I think the fact that I've spent a majority of my time recently training others on the approach wall and not working traffic myself contributed to this event. Due to the fact that I'm on two training teams; I spend most; if not all days each week training others and not staying proficient myself. I recently asked my flm (front line manager) to allow me at least one currency day per week; which he tried to do; but due to schedule changes and decisions by others in management I have often trained on those planned currency days as well. I do not blame anyone else for all this training playing a factor; I simply think I need to do a better job of communicating honestly with my flm's and OM's (operational manager) that I need currency days now and again so that when I do finally sit down at the scope I don't spend a session or two 'finding my groove.' lastly; I think as a facility (myself included; but others as well) we could be much more vigilant about creating situations with similar sounding call signs. This includes enforcing trainees and cpc's to issue similar sounding call signs to pilots; as well as all of us reporting instances of similar call signs to the offending airline and getting them to fix future instances of this.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Atlanta TRACON Controller reported a similar call sign error while working Arrivals inbound to Atlanta.

Narrative: I was working AR-A during trips [Three finals]; east; PRM's (Precision Runway Monitor) with a strong southwest wind. Aircraft Z was in the back of the box at 4000 MSL on a northwesterly heading. I intended to turn this aircraft right to a heading of 350; but instead I used a similar sounding call sign of an aircraft on the downwind; Aircraft X. It was a simple mistake of thinking one call sign but saying the other. Aircraft X read back the 350 heading correctly. I made a couple more transmissions and then noticed the track of the downwind aircraft turning northbound. Due to the strong south winds Aircraft X picked up significant ground speed as they took their northbound turn. I immediately told that aircraft to continue their right turn immediately to a 150 heading and did my best to issue traffic to Aircraft X because they were in close proximity to another aircraft already established on the final; Aircraft Y. Aircraft X reported they were IMC or in the clouds. I attempted to issue traffic to Aircraft Y on the final before realizing that aircraft had already been switched to Tower/PRM frequency. Using a climb or descent was not an option because by the time I realized my mistake both aircraft were at 3000 MSL; and there were numerous aircraft on the other finals at 4000 and above. Other than the obvious (not saying the wrong call sign); I think the fact that I've spent a majority of my time recently training others on the approach wall and not working traffic myself contributed to this event. Due to the fact that I'm on two training teams; I spend most; if not all days each week training others and not staying proficient myself. I recently asked my FLM (Front Line Manager) to allow me at least one currency day per week; which he tried to do; but due to schedule changes and decisions by others in management I have often trained on those planned currency days as well. I do not blame anyone else for all this training playing a factor; I simply think I need to do a better job of communicating honestly with my FLM's and OM's (Operational Manager) that I need currency days now and again so that when I do finally sit down at the scope I don't spend a session or two 'Finding my groove.' Lastly; I think as a facility (myself included; but others as well) we could be much more vigilant about creating situations with similar sounding call signs. This includes enforcing trainees and CPC's to issue similar sounding call signs to pilots; as well as all of us reporting instances of similar call signs to the offending airline and getting them to fix future instances of this.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.