We got an ICAO callsign!

[Guest surveyflyer]

Hi all-After 7 months of bugging the FAA and ICAO, we finally got an international callsign. It turns out, we are the first Part 91 operation in a few years to be approved for this. The catch?Out of all the requests we sent in, the ONLY callsign that was available was "FOOT PRINT" and ICAO automatically assigned it. AAAAAAHHHH! For the next year, thats what we'll be calling ourselves!!! It first it kinda bothered me, but now I think it's rather funny. The problem is most of the other pilots hate it. What do you guys think?Can anyone guess the meaning of "FOOT PRINT" in terms of aerial survey?Mike

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

Sure, as in the military world, foot print means the amount of "geography" your operation covers. The larger the foot print, the larger the geographic coverage. So, in an oceanographic sense, foot print would mean the actual ocean bottom coverage that a side scan sonar provides. In the world of aerial surveying, like side scan sonar, foot print would mean the amount of geographic coverage that your flight and survey covers (photos, infrared, gravimetrics, magnetics or whatever sensors you are flying and data you are gathering).

[Guest]

And in photography there's a great saying to "take only memories, leave only footprints".

[Guest surveyflyer]

Thanks guys! You've made me feel a much better about it. I was pretty bummed out by it before. I just hope that most controllers understand what it means. Knowing other pilots of course, they'll be wondering if we're a bunch of podiatrists :) .

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

It could be worse. You could have a call sign that leads them to believe you are a bunch of proctologists. You know, like RUBBER GLOVE three two one... :)