Two American Airlines aircraft were mistakenly operating near Phoenix under the identical call sign, American 2482, creating a potentially serious risk of confusion in air-traffic-control instructions. A controller noticed the duplication shortly after midnight and took action to keep the aircraft separated, preventing an incident; the case highlights the safety importance of unique flight identifiers.

One aircraft was arriving from Chicago while the other had just departed Phoenix, leaving both on the same frequency and in the same airspace. Aviation experts said that, had either crew mistaken an instruction intended for the other aircraft—particularly one concerning altitude—the planes could have been placed on a collision course. The apparent error was not detected before both pilots and the airline dispatcher had approved the flight plans.