"Ron Garret" wrote:
In the air it
turns out that "zero poppa" and "sierra poppa" sound an awful lot alike

"SIERRA" is a failure as a phonetic letter and should be changed, IMO.
"SUGAR" was better, but it is too much of an oddball pronunciaton to be
successful internationally. How about "SUPER?"

(try it), which has occasionally led to confusion when both planes are
in the pattern. (I've taken to saying a very exaggerated version of
ZEEEEEE-ROW-OOOO when I'm flying.)

Some pilots with "SIERRA" in their tail #s get sick of the continual
confusion and substitute "SUGAR." Controllers always accept it, even use it
themselves sometimes. Normally I am opposed to non-standard phraseology but
I make an exception in this case. "SIERRA" sucks.
--
Dan
C-172RG at BFM