Pilot Callsigns

The Three Rules of Callsigns

1. If you don't already have one, you will be assigned one by your "buddies".
2. You probably won't like it.
3. If you complain and moan too much about 1. and 2., you'll get a new nickname you'll like even less!

So, how do you get a callsign?

Do something stupid or have it fit with your last name. Obvious examples, 'Crash' or LT 'Cheese' Kraft. Sometimes it's based on a physical appearance thing like 'Carrot'. After you've earned the respect of your buddies, you'll get a more 'heroic' callsign.

Add your callsign to the list

Most recent additions

COAB

 (added: 11 Jun 2011)

C**t of a bloke. I heard this story from an Aussie Cargo Pilot that he went through flight school with this guy who was the biggest prick you'd ever want to imagine. They named him COAB, and the a##hole actually liked it.

Eeyore

 (added: 11 Jun 2011)

Reminded CO of A.A. Milne's suicidal blue-grey stuffed donkey. Monotone on radios. Dour facial expressions. Sunny outlook in life.

POW

 (added: 11 Jun 2011)

It means piece of work, not a compliment. It got cause on my first deployment. i refused to talk to the air traffic controllers on a approach at Port au Prince airport because they were hard to understand. When I was informed that they wanted to report me to the FAA, I said "I have guns and they don't". I did a ton of things like that on that deployment.

MAHB

 (added: 11 Jun 2011)

Man of hot & beauty - usually when the pilot's wife or girlfriend is really looking good...

Choo Choo

 (added: 11 Jun 2011)

On a ville run in Korea, was hanging on a RR crossing gate (made of pig iron) when the gate went up. I kept hanging on and the gate bent right in half. The local police arrested me and my OpsO bailed me out.

Slash

 (added: 11 Jun 2011)

When in F4 RTU, some of my classmates called me by my real name Jeff, and others for some unknown reason were calling me Dave (not mine). One of the wives overheard this at a party and asked me why they were calling me by 2 different names (the answer to which I did not know). In her somewhat inebriated state she suggested Jeff "Slash" Dave. The Slash stuck...at least until my first operational unit, but that's another story.

Java

 (added: 11 Jun 2011)

Major Chris S, a Flight Surgeon with the 162nd FW who was always seen in clinic with his thermos of coffee which was not only home brewed but also home roasted. Naturally, such a passion for the perfect cup of joe lead to the callsign Java.

WUNA

 (added: 11 Jun 2011)

Worked HEMS with a former Marine several years ago. Nice guy, but not particularly good looking. One night a bunch of us were having drinks and telling war stories when he mentioned his callsign in the Corps was WUNA. Sort of like trying to figure out what the pesonal plates of car in front of you means before it drives away. After awhile I said "okay what's it mean? Without looking up from his drink , he proudly said, "Worlds Ugliest Naval Aviator".

LOSA

 (added: 2 Jun 2011)

Prounced with long "O" sound "Losa". Means Low SA , Never had a clue what was going on.

TRIX

 (added: 2 Jun 2011)

Tri-X , XXX

Axe

 (added: 30 May 2011)

Was given because "let the axe fall" I was an IP and got the chance to lower the axe on a few students

Stingray

 (added: 30 May 2011)

Cpt. in the Air Force on a cargo run to Guantanamo Bay in the late '80s decides to take his crew deep sea fishing. He was fighting the, "Biggest fish in the whole damn ocean," and pulls out a Sting Ray less than a foot across. Now he's a SASI with the AF JROTC, his cadets (I'm one of them) still call him Stingray over the walkie's when were on security at the football games!

Ricky Bobby

 (added: 28 May 2011)

Received three speeding tickets in his first month on-station. [Ed note: named after the NASCAR driver]

Pecker

 (added: 28 May 2011)

Tame version? First name ended in wood. The racier version should be left up to the imagination.

BA

 (added: 28 May 2011)

Given to a pilot who had a quite hefty posterior. Stands for Big A$$.

Knuckles

 (added: 28 May 2011)

This guy was very open about one of his bedroom endeavors. The story that got him this nickname involved his girlfriend using two of her fingers. You figure out the rest.

FUMBA

 (added: 28 May 2011)

F**k You My Brother Aviators. New guy gets piss drunk at the pilot meeting prior to his naming and starts going off on all of his instructors. Telling them how they suck and are worthless compared to him (brand new out of the school house punk). The rest is history...almost. He changed his own name to Strafe at his next assignment, because, well, he's a douche.

Deliverance

 (added: 28 May 2011)

I was the only person in the squadron with any sort of Southern accent. And it's thick enough to be hard to understand when I'm not enunciating well.

Sleez

 (added: 28 May 2011)

My last name's Slezak. No one could pronounce it right the first day, or the second day, or the third day.

Pappi

 (added: 28 May 2011)

Our flight doc, being a newbie, also had the last name of 'Ram', which brought about endless monikers such as ASS or Butt or Rod. However, when asked about the grossest medical story he has ever seen, he told a story about how, as a student, his supervising physician threw him in a room to do a PAP smear on a rather large inner city patient without being allowed to take a history. Sure enough he goes in (STS) and voi-la, she menstruates all over him. A Pappi peel, last ditch effort to unload munitions, seemed fitting as he got 'unloaded' on. AM was suggested - All Mensutruation, to go along with his last name. Well, Pappi stood, no EO complaints (that I know of)

Leeroy

 (added: 28 May 2011)

During ACM, '2' decided to go at it alone, and promptly committed fratricide. Hence the homage to Leeroy Jenkins of youtube and warcraft fame. [Ed note: just google "Leeroy Jenkins"]

Mouthwash

 (added: 28 May 2011)

After watching a documentary about the adult movie industry on HBO, one of our classmates was commenting on how this guy got paid $50K for doing 20-minute porn scene with another guy. After much discussion around the TV lounge, he made the comment that $50,000 would buy a lot of mouthwash. Hence, he was forever branded.

Butcher

 (added: 28 May 2011)

After an episode of fratricide in an exercise against the Wisconsin guard, he attained the callsign 'blows up the cheese heads, extremely retarded'. [Ed note: Wisconsin produces large volumes of cheese]

LAMB

 (added: 28 May 2011)

Notorious lady pilot who always had something low-cut when in civilian attire, thus LAMB (Look At My Boobs)

Chode

 (added: 18 Apr 2011)

The pilot's last name is Robichaud. [Ed: see Urban Dictionary]