Small victory

[0TreeLemur]

When we bought our J in 2022 it came with with tail number N202Y.   That's great, but not quite right.  It's a Mooney 201, not a 202.  Kind of like a vanity plate that just doesn't quite make sense.  Oh well.  It's easy to say.

On a whim In September I checked the FAA N-number availability list to see if by some chance N201Y was available.  I would have bet 100 AMU's that it wasn't because of the N-number squatters out there that seem to pounce on all the shorter ones.

I GOT IT!  Last week I received a confirmation letter from the FAA.  All I gotta do is change a 2 into a 1 and do the triplicate form tango with the FSDO.

In the category of lucky days- on October 3 at our local championship golf course someone shot 2 holes in one in the same round!

 

[AJ88V]

Congratulations!  I will never regret changing my tail number.

 

[MooneyMitch]

Oh, happy day !! 

[201er]

1 hour ago, 0TreeLemur said:

When we bought our J in 2022 it came with with tail number N202Y.   That's great, but not quite right.  It's a Mooney 201, not a 202.  Kind of like a vanity plate that just doesn't quite make sense.

Would have been easier to speed mod it up to 202 and keep the name?

[Pinecone]

I would just told everyone is was just a bit better than a 201.

 

[0TreeLemur]

50 minutes ago, Pinecone said:

I would just told everyone is was just a bit better than a 201.

 

"This goes to 11."  - Nigel Tufnel

[dkkim73]

1 hour ago, 0TreeLemur said:

"This goes to 11."  - Nigel Tufnel

Or the .88 magnum from Johnny Dangerously. 

[0TreeLemur]

FAA permission to use N201Y received in February of this year.  April 1 I took off the tape after painting the shadow on the new "1"s.   Turned out pretty good I think!

 

[Skates97]

On 10/20/2024 at 2:53 PM, AJ88V said:

Congratulations!  I will never regret changing my tail number.

 

I initially thought N78878 was a great number and easy to say. Turns out for ATC it's too many 7's and 8's and they would mix them up all the time. I changed it to N1015E (10/15 has some significance) when I had the plane painted and thought my troubles were over. At lease once a month ATC will read me back as N101SE, I guess they are used to seeing two letters at the end and their mind changes the 5 to an S. 

[PeteMc]

53 minutes ago, Skates97 said:

At lease once a month ATC will read me back as N101SE

Might be all in the cadence...   Try "NY Approach, Mooney 10 15 E" and see what happens. 

Sort of like the phone messages I love to hear where some one leaves there phone number rattled off faster than I've ever heard any controller give a full route clearance.   Sure, THEY know their own number and can rattle it off that fast.  But not really helpful for the person they're leaving it for.   

[PT20J]

My two favorite airplane numbers I flew were a PA28-181 N222XT (used to check triple-two xray tango and never had a mix up) and a M20C N78888 (used to check in 78 triple-8 and never had confusion, either). Three in a row seems to work well.

[Hank]

7 minutes ago, PT20J said:

My two favorite airplane numbers I flew were a PA28-181 N222XT (used to check triple-two xray tango and never had a mix up) and a M20C N78888 (used to check in 78 triple-8 and never had confusion, either). Three in a row seems to work well.

Depending on how I feel, I'll check in as "triple-four" or drawl slowly "four, four, four". Just because.

[shawnd]

17 hours ago, 0TreeLemur said:

FAA permission to use N201Y received in February of this year.  April 1 I took off the tape after painting the shadow on the new "1"s.   Turned out pretty good I think!

Congrats! That looks great for matching the 1 perfectly! 

[PT20J]

54 minutes ago, Hank said:

Depending on how I feel, I'll check in as "triple-four" or drawl slowly "four, four, four". Just because.

Old joke about the pilot saying to the controller, "You hear how fast I talk? That's how fast I listen!"

[Skates97]

1 hour ago, PeteMc said:

Might be all in the cadence...   Try "NY Approach, Mooney 10 15 E" and see what happens. 

Sort of like the phone messages I love to hear where some one leaves there phone number rattled off faster than I've ever heard any controller give a full route clearance.   Sure, THEY know their own number and can rattle it off that fast.  But not really helpful for the person they're leaving it for.   

Not sure cadence makes a difference in this situation, one-five-echo sounds much different than one-sierra-echo. They're writing it down and just seeing the 5 as an S. Even the local tower folks at my home airport who know my plane, tail number, where my hangar is (they don't even ask as I'm exiting the runway and give me taxi instructions to my hangar) still substitute Sierra for Five from time to time. I think it is just the brain seeing what it expects.

1 hour ago, PT20J said:

My two favorite airplane numbers I flew were a PA28-181 N222XT (used to check triple-two xray tango and never had a mix up) and a M20C N78888 (used to check in 78 triple-8 and never had confusion, either). Three in a row seems to work well.

I tried a couple different tactics with N78878 when they mixed it up, Mooney 7-8 (pause) 8-7-8, Mooney seven double-eight, seven eight. Sometimes that helped. 

[AJ88V]

My old tail number was N9459V, as in "niner four five niner victor" which has too many long i's and too many er's in it, and controllers always butchered it.. Adding cadence and  pauses helped, such as "niner <pause> four five <pause> niner <pause> victor" mostly worked, but no guarantee, and annoying to 'lightning fast' controllers working busy airspaces like JFK.

Also hate tail numbers with too many syllables. Had a training aircraft ending in UJ and didn't like that much.  "Uniform Julliet" was too much for my slow Southern tongue.

I tried lots of combos when picking new tail numbers to get something that was both easy say and easy for the controllers to get right the first time.  7788V has been pretty perfect.  Gonna miss that number if I ever sell her.

[Hank]

5 minutes ago, AJ88V said:

"Uniform Julliet" was too much for my slow Southern tongue.

I understand that!

And yes, I do keep "do you hear how fast i speak? That's how fast i hear, too" in my.back pocket. But I also don't fly in SoKal or the Northeast Corridor, but some controllers seem to be practicing for there . . .

[M20F]

My favorite tail number remains 04Q.  When ATC was good it was 04 Quebec.  When it was bad it was ‘O’ four Q.  

[PeteMc]

2 hours ago, Skates97 said:

Not sure cadence makes a difference in this situation, one-five-echo sounds much different than one-sierra-echo. They're writing it down and just seeing the 5 as an S.

Kind of my point...  And in theory it only has to happen on the first call.  (And I should have written it out like @AJ88V did.)

Enunciate only on the first call and I bet you'll be fine:  One <beat> Zero <double beat> one <beat> fife <double beat> Echo.   I get that they may still blow it when they look at it, but most of the human nature part is the INITIAL mental registration of your N# (or anything else that can get swapped).   If you make note of it and call it out, subconsciously there is a good chance they'll make note as well. 

  

[A64Pilot]

On 10/20/2024 at 4:53 PM, 0TreeLemur said:

All I gotta do is change a 2 into a 1 and do the triplicate form tango with the FSDO.

I’m not sure what the triplicate form tango is, but you did get a DAR to reissue you a new Airworthiness Certificate didn’t you?

[0TreeLemur]

1 hour ago, A64Pilot said:

I’m not sure what the triplicate form tango is, but you did get a DAR to reissue you a new Airworthiness Certificate didn’t you?

The instructions from the FAA said that the FSDO will issue a new Airworthiness Certificate.   The FAA form 8050-64 giving me permission to use the new tail number says the following:

"SIGN AND RETURN THE ORIGINAL of this form to the Civil Aviation Registry, Aircraft Registration Branch, within 5 days after the special registration number is placed on the aircraft.   A revised certificate of aircraft registration will then be issued.  Obtain a revised certificate of airworthiness from your nearest Flight Standards District Office."

Returned signed form.  I tried calling the nearest FSDO.   Left a message.  Followed their maze online.  Sent an e-mail.  Waiting to hear back.   I would guess they are waiting for the registration update to appear online.

That regs say that a copy of that signed Form  FAA 8050-64 along with my old AC placed in the aircraft makes the aircraft airworthy until the FSDO issues the revised AC. 

[Yetti]

22 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

I’m not sure what the triplicate form tango is, but you did get a DAR to reissue you a new Airworthiness Certificate didn’t you?

FSDO can do that.   Mine was kind of tattered so I had them do a new one.     As far as N number the new one end in HW    or Hotel Whiskey.    Think I will keep it.

 

 

[A64Pilot]

ANYTHING a DAR or a DER can do, the FAA can do. DAR’s and DER’s even IA’s were created to offload work for the poor overworked FAA.

So what I’m saying is that you might get old and grey before the FSDO will issue you a new AW Cert, new is different than a re-issue, they will do that.

FAA is free, Designees are not

But maybe things have changed maybe the FSDO will.