First officer concerned with similar call signs.

Attributes
ACN	432909
Time
Date	199904
Day	Sun
Local Time Of Day	1801 To 2400
Place
Locale Reference	airport : tus.airport
State Reference	AZ
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Controlling Facilities	tracon : u90.tracon
Operator	common carrier : air carrier
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	descent : approach
Route In Use	approach : visual
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : first officer
Qualification	pilot : flight engineer pilot : instrument pilot : multi engine pilot : cfi pilot : commercial
Experience	flight time last 90 days : 220 flight time total : 13000 flight time type : 1800
ASRS Report	432909
Events
Anomaly	other anomaly other
Independent Detector	other flight crewa
Resolutory Action	none taken : anomaly accepted
Supplementary
Problem Areas	Company Flight Crew Human Performance ATC Human Performance
Primary Problem	Company

Narrative:

Too many similar call signs are appearing and causing confusion with ATC. Our own company had flts with similar numbers leaving at the same time and direction, causing pilots and ATC to repeat clrncs. Then upon arriving in tus, a different airline had the same flight number going into the same airport, which resulted in clrncs getting mixed up again by both pilots and ATC. A possible solution could be for airlines to use alpha/numeric flight numbers.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: FO CONCERNED WITH SIMILAR CALL SIGNS.

Narrative: TOO MANY SIMILAR CALL SIGNS ARE APPEARING AND CAUSING CONFUSION WITH ATC. OUR OWN COMPANY HAD FLTS WITH SIMILAR NUMBERS LEAVING AT THE SAME TIME AND DIRECTION, CAUSING PLTS AND ATC TO REPEAT CLRNCS. THEN UPON ARRIVING IN TUS, A DIFFERENT AIRLINE HAD THE SAME FLT NUMBER GOING INTO THE SAME ARPT, WHICH RESULTED IN CLRNCS GETTING MIXED UP AGAIN BY BOTH PLTS AND ATC. A POSSIBLE SOLUTION COULD BE FOR AIRLINES TO USE ALPHA/NUMERIC FLT NUMBERS.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.