Citation Excel (C560XL)
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30; Flight Crew Total 10000; Flight Crew Type 2000
Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification; Communication Breakdown; Confusion
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Human Factors; Procedure
This flight was at the end of a 3 leg trip. The first two legs were flown using the tail number as the call sign because we were going international. The last leg we used our assigned call sign. It was Sunday so approach control was closed at the airport and we had to shoot an approach with Center which did not have radar low enough to vector us for the approach. We were cleared for the full approach and told we could switch over to the CTAF. I used the tail number to make multiple calls during the approach. We were IFR till about 700 feet so we could not cancel with Center. I called FSS and canceled the IFR flight plan but since I was using my tail number I cancelled using that instead of my filed call sign. While driving home; I got a call from the FAA looking to make sure I was on the ground. At first I was surprised because I knew I cancelled but then realized I had used the wrong call sign to cancel. This was not a safety issue for our flight but it could have caused a safety issue for other flights trying to land at the airport and could not because our flight had not been correctly canceled. I think in the future; the best thing to do would be to keep the call sign standard through out the flight and day so that the wrong one is not accidentally used when it is necessary. Example either use the company assigned call sign or the tail number for the entire flight and probably for the whole day as well.
A C560 corporate pilot flew a series of legs using either N number or an assigned call sign. After landing at a CTAF airport he closed out his flight with his call sign but had filed under his tail number so later the FAA called looking for him.