Do we reuse flight numbers if a plane is lost?

[Lord Pikey]

After yesterdays tragic events i was thinking this morning. Are flight numbers reused if that number been lost in a accident? I suspect a major event such as Lockerbie or the 9,11 attacks the flight numbers might not ever be used again.

This is just a thought. Does anyone know if this is done? I would of thought a lot of people would be superstitious about such things and refuse to fly..

LP

[Lord Croker]

On a similar note, after 9/11 many people refused to fly on that date as they felt it was too dangerous. If you think about how many flights there are each day, and what chance there is of there being a bomb or highjacker on a specific plane, there's bugger all chance of it being on your flight.

[PD9]

Oh two Lords!

[james_tigerwoods]

I believe so - it's the route that has the number - isn't it?

One for EricMc I think....

[phil1979]

Lord Croker said:

On a similar note, after 9/11 many people refused to fly on that date as they felt it was too dangerous. If you think about how many flights there are each day, and what chance there is of there being a bomb or highjacker on a specific plane, there's bugger all chance of it being on your flight.

Reminds me of that comedian that said you should always pack your own bomb in your luggage, as there's hardly any chance of two bombs being on the same plane.

Edited by phil1979 on Tuesday 2nd June 10:28

[Neil_H]

I tend not to reuse mine, I can't speak for anyone else.

[GreenDog]

I know that certain airlines refuse to use certain flight numbers for religious or cultural reasons, I suspect that this would also apply to flights that had been involved in incidents such as this too.

[knight]

The British Midland flight that crashed at Kegworth was the BD92 to Belfast, that flight number is still used today.

[LukeBird]

I'm not sure if it's operator dependent, but a lot of operators do use the same filed flight numbers again for the same route.
Although that's not to say the aircraft won't ask for a different routing once airborne.

[LeoSayer]

Lord Croker said:

On a similar note, after 9/11 many people refused to fly on that date as they felt it was too dangerous.

One scientist estimates there were 2,170 additional road deaths since 9/11. Simply because people chose to drive instead of fly.

[ChristianZS]

Edit: Tailnumbers..

Our chairman has a chopper which if you google the number comes back as some 1960's write off.

Edited by ChristianZS on Tuesday 2nd June 13:10

[Melman Giraffe]

ChristianZS said:

Edit: Tailnumbers..

Our chairman has a chopper which if you google the number comes back as some 1960's write off.

Edited by ChristianZS on Tuesday 2nd June 13:10

What he is flying around in a written off chopper!!

[Eric Mc]

ChristianZS said:

Edit: Tailnumbers..

Our chairman has a chopper which if you google the number comes back as some 1960's write off.

Edited by ChristianZS on Tuesday 2nd June 13:10

How come?

Is it an American registration?

Regarding flight numbers, it depends on how iconic the number becomes. In some incidents, the flight number becomes the "handle" by which the media refer to the event. Therefore the airline may become sensitive to using it again.
Most times the flight number remains fairly obscure so garners no notoriety.

[ChristianZS]

Eric Mc said:

ChristianZS said:

Edit: Tailnumbers..

Our chairman has a chopper which if you google the number comes back as some 1960's write off.

Edited by ChristianZS on Tuesday 2nd June 13:10

How come?

Is it an American registration?

Regarding flight numbers, it depends on how iconic the number becomes. In some incidents, the flight number becomes the "handle" by which the media refer to the event. Therefore the airline may become sensitive to using it again.
Most times the flight number remains fairly obscure so garners no notoriety.

I think its an American import..

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=...

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regse...

[Mosman]

Wikipedia says said:

Flight numbers are often taken out of use after a crash or a serious incident. For example, following the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261, the airline changed the flight number for subsequent flights following the same route to 295. Also, American Airlines Flight 11, which regularly flew from Logan International Airport in East Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles International Airport, was changed to Flight 25 after the September 11, 2001 attacks.]

Retirement of flight numbers

[Melman Giraffe]

ChristianZS said:

Eric Mc said:

ChristianZS said:

Edit: Tailnumbers..

Our chairman has a chopper which if you google the number comes back as some 1960's write off.

Edited by ChristianZS on Tuesday 2nd June 13:10

How come?

Is it an American registration?

Regarding flight numbers, it depends on how iconic the number becomes. In some incidents, the flight number becomes the "handle" by which the media refer to the event. Therefore the airline may become sensitive to using it again.
Most times the flight number remains fairly obscure so garners no notoriety.

I think its an American import..

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=...

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regse...

looks good in flip purple

[Eric Mc]

The FAA allows the reuse of aircraft registrations - once the original or older carrier of the number has been formally removed from the register. No two aircraft can carry the same numbers at the same time (unless one of the aircraft is permanently grounded or in a museum - say).

In the UK, civil aircraft carry letters rather than numbers and, like in the US, the same letters cannot be carried on two planes at the same time. The CAA is reluctant to allow the reuse of letters originally used by an older aircraft but they do make exceptions on rare occasions.

[Chris71]

LeoSayer said:

Lord Croker said:

On a similar note, after 9/11 many people refused to fly on that date as they felt it was too dangerous.

One scientist estimates there were 2,170 additional road deaths since 9/11. Simply because people chose to drive instead of fly.

That's quite an interesting, if entirely predictable, statistic. I think of the difference in risk every time someone who drives complains they're afraid of flying!

[ChristianZS]

Melman Giraffe said:

ChristianZS said:

Eric Mc said:

ChristianZS said:

Edit: Tailnumbers..

Our chairman has a chopper which if you google the number comes back as some 1960's write off.

Edited by ChristianZS on Tuesday 2nd June 13:10

How come?

Is it an American registration?

Regarding flight numbers, it depends on how iconic the number becomes. In some incidents, the flight number becomes the "handle" by which the media refer to the event. Therefore the airline may become sensitive to using it again.
Most times the flight number remains fairly obscure so garners no notoriety.

I think its an American import..

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=...

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regse...

looks good in flip purple

Yea its certainly a pretty thing...

Makes one hell of a noise when it comes into land (less than 100ft from our windows!)

[ChristianZS]

ChristianZS said:

Melman Giraffe said:

ChristianZS said:

Eric Mc said:

ChristianZS said:

Edit: Tailnumbers..

Our chairman has a chopper which if you google the number comes back as some 1960's write off.

Edited by ChristianZS on Tuesday 2nd June 13:10

How come?

Is it an American registration?

Regarding flight numbers, it depends on how iconic the number becomes. In some incidents, the flight number becomes the "handle" by which the media refer to the event. Therefore the airline may become sensitive to using it again.
Most times the flight number remains fairly obscure so garners no notoriety.

I think its an American import..

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=...

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regse...

looks good in flip purple

Yea its certainly a pretty thing...

Makes one hell of a noise when it comes into land (less than 100ft from our windows!)

Speak of the devil... Its just landed