Now there are two Cessna Skyhawks with the tail number Nxx05U. Mine is
one of them and the other is based at an airport that I very frequently
fly into. On the first occassion tower was only using the last 3
numbers. I replyed that we better use the whole tail number and not get
the wrong assignment.

Marco Leon wrote:

So I get a text message from Flight Explorer that my airplane is in
flight. Hmmm, my uncle/aircraft partner is still out of town so this
promises to be interesting. Logging onto Flight Explorer, I confirm
that there is indeed an aircraft with my tail number flying only 15
miles north of my home airport (KFRG) over the Long Island Sound. It's
also showing ground speeds comparable to my Warrior.

So now lots of thoughts are racing through my head trying balance the
odds of all these things falling into place (e.g. if it IS a wrong ATC
assignment of a VFR aircraft, what are the chances of it occurring only
15 miles from my home airport? and why would someone steal my airplane
and call ATC with the correct tail number?). However, I manage to keep
my focus on driving the 1.5 miles to the airport for visual
confirmation.

The airplane was there, sitting quietly in it's spot.

Okaaay. I call the NY TRACON on the *small* chance that someone may be
testing out the use of my tail number for some bad purposes. But it
looks like my post-9/11 mindset is the only thing to blame when they
confirm that they have no aircraft with my tail number in the system.

So my dinner was still warm when I got home and another peek at Flight
Explorer shows that the plane in question was now showing the
"corrected" number of N36116 instead of N36616. It turns out N36116 is
another 1978 Warrior based out of New Haven--a mere 40 miles away.

What are the odds? Indeed.

Marco