Call signs

Paul Tomblin wrote:
In a previous article, "buttman" said:

saying "four" or something. When I file all I say for type is PA-28,
and to ATC guys a PA-28 is a Cherokee. So from that point on, I now use


I learned in our club's Warrior, and for the last 10 years I've been
flying a mixture of Warrior's, Archers, and Dakotas, and with one
exception everybody[1], both pilots and ATC, says "Cherokee".

The problem for me was that now I checked in the club's Lance, and ATC
always says "Lance". And my ears are used to listening for "Cherokee",
and so I miss a lot more radio calls in the Lance than I do in our various
Cherokees.

[1] There is one controller at Rochester who knows our planes, and if you
call him up with "Cherokee November 8323Yankee", he'll respond "Dakota
23Yankee cleared to...". Even he doesn't correct the Warrior and
Archers, and refers to them as Cherokees.

All the controller cares about is your speed. So he wants to know if
you are a "Cherokee" (Warrior, Arrow, ....) or a LearJet or a heavy.
That tells him about times and congestion problems, his job.