Repatriation

The United States government charters planes to fly people in the US without legal status back to the countries where they are from. We usually get one of these charter planes every Tuesday evening here in San Diego. The plane N440US (operated by Swift Air) comes from Oakland, stops here in San Diego, goes to Phoenix, and then continues on to Guatemala the next day. Every week. Same plane, same time, same route.

This morning we got N441US. Super-weird. We never see this plane. We never get repatriation flights on Sundays; we rarely get repatriation flights during the daytime. This one came from Phoenix, is headed to Houston, and after that it is going back to Phoenix.

RPN 441: Lingbergh Tower, Repatriate four-forty-one. Visual two-seven.
Lindbergh Tower: Repatriate four-forty-one, good morning. Wind calm. Runway two-seven, cleared to land.
RPN 441: [Unintelligible]

Lindbergh Tower: Repatriate four-forty-one, traffic will depart prior to your arrival. Seven-thirty-seven.
RPN 441: Thank you [unintelligible].

Lindbergh Tower: Repatriate four-forty-one, left turn Bravo niner. Contact ground.
RPN 441: Ok, left at, uh, niner, contact ground. Repatriate four-four-one.