Commercial Fixed Wing
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy
While working Ground Control 1/ Ground Control 2; I was handed three departure strips with similar call signs; all three aircraft the same type and with the same SID. I immediately recognized how similar the call signs were and the high likelihood of a hear back/read back error; since the three aircraft would be flying similar routes. Air Carrier XXXX was the first to call for taxi; but transposed his call sign as 'Air Carrier XXYX;' and I clarified his call sign and asked him to confirm his destination before picking up the correct strip. There were no other issues that I'm aware of with these flights. I've previously written about Air Carrier's similar call signs and the fact that the digits 3; 4; 5 and 6 are the most commonly used. Air Carrier needs to be pushed aggressively to make real changes to their call sign patterns. This was a quiet Ground Control session with only about 10 proposed departure strips. During busy departure pushes; it is not uncommon to have 20 proposed strips just for Air Carrier flights; and I could easily see a situation where myself or another Ground Control doesn't catch similar call signs with a transposed read back; handing the wrong strip to Local Control and setting up a loss of separation (left turn at 1R or right turn at 1L; for example); not to mention incorrect coordination with NCT; since the wrong strip would have been scanned off prior to departure.
SFO Controller described an unsafe condition citing the continued use of similar sounding four digit company call signs during the same time frame with identical routings.