Duffed

[Luxornv]

This may be a simple and stupid question, but I saw an interesting tag one time while tracking flights out of ORD. The call sign was simply "DUFFED" even though it appeared to be a normal flight on a regional jet. I was interested in this and followed it for a while. Eventually, it was updated with actual information, but I was never sure why it said DUFFED. Does anyone know why this happens? This was on the old version of the Windows Phone 8 app. I didn't have a chance to get to a real computer to double check this when I saw it.

[fungus]

Not simple or stupid at all.

Fortunately or otherwise, a pilot can input a callsign of almost anything made up of any combination of alpha/numeric characters (from memory of up to eight characters in length). It would seem they still don't necessarily realise these days that thanks to the likes of sites like FR24 and those of us who own a receiver they are very much public in nature. Not long after I got my unit back in 2008 I watched an aircraft depart Sydney here in Australia flying off over the Pacific with the callsign 'C---' (a four letter word for the female part of the anatomy that I dare not repeat here). The pilot probably thought it was a great joke. Not very professional. Perhaps he was just having a bad day.

Here in Australia since ADS-B became mandatory ATC watch them very closely and correct them if they are wrong. I'm pretty sure the callsign you are referring to is a similar example to what I witnessed.

Regards,
Gregg

[Mike]

In USA the callsign is not used by ATC. Flights are instead identified by Squawk. So you can find different strange callsigns almost daily.

[SoCalBrian]

Skywest's Embraer 120ER aircraft uses those strange callsigns in the USA.

[fungus]

oops ... it may also be that I was mislead by the Aussie slang meaning of the term 'Duff' which is "To get Your shit rocked by a closed fist." (from the urban dictionary, not my words) or the more common (colloquial) meaning here for it- to be pregnant.

Regards,
Gregg

[Luxornv]

Thank you for your replies. I thought it may have been some code for a data error somewhere along the line from the aircraft to me. Looks like just the pilot messing around though. @Fungus, in the US, Duff is commonly associated with the TV show, The Simpsons. That is the fictional brand of beer Homer drinks on the show. Maybe these pilots were thinking along those lines.

[peterhr]

UK duff = useless or broken (kaput)

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[jedthebass]

Another callsign which I have noticed in my area is 'BLOCKED'.In these parts,to be blocked means to be very,very drunk!

[Oblivian]

blocked is not a callsign, but a replacement for the true details.