Speedbird
|
|
Speedbird_evolution.JPG
Speedbird is a callsign used by British Airways during air traffic control procedures, as well as the name for the famous stylized British Overseas Airways Corporation logo. For a time after British Airways absorbed BOAC, the Speedbird was seen on the nose of fleet aircraft. Later the speedbird logo was adopted as part of the main livery, a red flash on the lower dark blue part of the fuselage. The Speedbird lives on in the current British Airways logo, being a "whoosh" with the official name of Speedmarque.
When communicating with air traffic control, it is usual for scheduled flights to be identified by their flight number, predeced by an identifier indicating the airline. Usually this is related to the name of the company (for example "Delta" for Delta Airlines). Speedbird is one that is used by British Airways.
It is frequently claimed that the Speedbird callsign was used exclusively by Concorde flights. However it is used by many British Airways aircraft of all types. For example, Speedbird 178 Heavy would likely be a Boeing 747.
In addition to the standard Speedbird callsign, Concorde flights added Concorde to notify Air Traffic Control of the aircraft's unique abilities and restrictions. The Flight numbers of the BA Concorde flights were 001–004; BA Concordes therefore used callsigns Speedbird Concorde 1 through Speedbird Concorde 4. With the retirement of Concorde those flight numbers are now unused. French Concordes used the standard "Air France" callsign.