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With two aircraft with similar call signs on opposite direction paths; the wrong aircraft accepts a descent clearance resulting in a traffic conflict and confusion.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 866681 |
| Time | |
| Date | 200912 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZLA.ARTCC |
| State Reference | CA |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Light Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Descent |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Aircraft 2 | |
| Make Model Name | Light Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Handoff / Assist |
| Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 180 Flight Crew Total 12000 Flight Crew Type 6000 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance |
| Miss Distance | Horizontal 18000 Vertical 500 |
Narrative:
ZZZ was IFR and numerous aircraft were awaiting clearance to depart as well as air carrier XXXY inbound to ZZZ. I was on and off the frequency to expedite the flow of traffic in and out of the ZZZ airport. When the r-side was issuing the descent clearance to air carrier XXXX I was checking another departure out of ZZZ to make sure I had the spacing needed to give another release to depart to help the r-side reduce the delay on air carrier XXXX inbound. I was looking at this when descent clearance was given and did not hear the readback that air carrier XXXY had read it back instead. While I was giving the release to air carrier abcd is when I heard the r-side give a traffic alert to both aircraft and realized the incident occurred. We do get many air carrier XXXY and air carrier XXXX going back and forth between ZZZ and las on exact opposite courses which seems dangerous on the similar sounding call signs. Both aircraft are usually descended within the same vicinity also. My recommendation would be not to have the similar sounding call signs used between ZZZ and las with both aircraft going to be on the same frequency the majority of their flight.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: With two aircraft with similar call signs on opposite direction paths; the wrong aircraft accepts a descent clearance resulting in a traffic conflict and confusion.
Narrative: ZZZ was IFR and numerous aircraft were awaiting clearance to depart as well as ACR XXXY inbound to ZZZ. I was on and off the frequency to expedite the flow of traffic in and out of the ZZZ airport. When the R-side was issuing the descent clearance to ACR XXXX I was checking another departure out of ZZZ to make sure I had the spacing needed to give another release to depart to help the R-side reduce the delay on ACR XXXX inbound. I was looking at this when descent clearance was given and did not hear the readback that ACR XXXY had read it back instead. While I was giving the release to ACR ABCD is when I heard the R-side give a traffic alert to both aircraft and realized the incident occurred. We do get many ACR XXXY and ACR XXXX going back and forth between ZZZ and LAS on exact opposite courses which seems dangerous on the similar sounding call signs. Both aircraft are usually descended within the same vicinity also. My recommendation would be not to have the similar sounding call signs used between ZZZ and LAS with both aircraft going to be on the same frequency the majority of their flight.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.