Why do pilots say cactus?

Cactus was chosen. America West was based in Phoenix, Arizona near the Sonoran Desert – home of the giant Saguaro cactus. In 2006, America West merged with US Airways. The Cactus call sign survived the merger and all US Airways flights were soon known as “Cactus” on the radio.



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Cactus – US Airways: “Cactus” was adopted by US Airways as a result of its merger with America West Airlines. The name “Cactus” was derived from America West's earlier call sign, which was chosen due to the airline's origins in the desert regions of the southwestern United States where cacti thrive.

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Capt. Sully returned briefly to flying for US Airways several months after his famous flight, and retired from the airline business later in 2009, landing a lucrative book deal and speaking engagements.

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I figured out “Cactus” is the call sign for US Airways, but that only came to me through the media coverage of the comms between ATC and the highly skilled pilots of “Cactus 1549”, the flight that landed in the Hudson River in January 2009.

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In the 1940's, BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) used the name of its logo, the “Speedbird,” as a call sign. In the early 1970's, BOAC become British Airways through a merger and continued to use “Speedbird.” The call sign was especially appropriate when used by the supersonic Concorde.

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Our Fleet. Our fleet consist of Embraer 110 and Beechcraft 1900 aircrafts.

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The callout from the pilots like LOC blue serves to remind themselves of the current flight guidance modes, and to maintain awareness of mode changes. This is also to ensure that their mental idea of what the aircraft will do next is up to date and fits to the current flight situation.

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Affirm: Contrary to popular belief, pilots do not say “affirmative” when they mean “yes” – the correct term is affirm, pronounced “AY-firm”.

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US Airways (formerly USAir) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1937 until 2015 when it merged with American Airlines.

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