Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Aviation

Survey

I notice inconsistency between article names for aircraft accidents where an airline is operating on behalf of another one. There is dispute on what airline should be used. I wanted to end this dispute after especially seeing the dispute on 2025 Potomac River mid-air collision Zaptain United (talk) 02:37, 1 November 2025 (UTC)

Just for clarity, this is specifically about how the flight number is stylized within the article itself, not the title? Article titles should use whichever is the WP:COMMONNAME used by reliable sources. It is my opinion that for articles that use the flight number as its title, the article itself should be consistent with it. However, I don't currently have an opinion on which style should be used on articles such as the above example, which are not titled with a flight number. - ZLEA ^TǀC 03:30, 1 November 2025 (UTC)

I just want to solve which airline to use for the title. Like there was a dispute on the Potomac mid air collision article on whether the Flight 5342 should be called PSA Airlines, American Airlines, or American Eagle in the article? It is mainly a problem with these regional air carrier crashes Like Comair Flight 5191 or Colgan Air Flight 3407. Zaptain United (talk) 18:18, 1 November 2025 (UTC)

Also I change the title to be less confusing cause I am talking about which airline should be used in the title not the flight number. I copied this from someone's draft RFC on this topic. Zaptain United (talk) 18:19, 1 November 2025 (UTC)

(edit conflict) In that case, it should be whichever is the WP:COMMONNAME used by most reliable sources. - ZLEA ^TǀC 18:20, 1 November 2025 (UTC)

I think the main problem is a title dispute right after a crash and there is dispute on what the title should be for a crash where a airlines is operating on behalf of another one and sources vary in what they called the crash. Zaptain United (talk) 18:34, 1 November 2025 (UTC)

In that case, I think the best course of action is to wait until a clear common name emerges. WP:THEREISNORUSH after all. If a reasonable amount of time elapses and there is still no clear common name used by reliable sources, then it's probably worth tackling on a case-by-case basis. - ZLEA ^TǀC 03:11, 2 November 2025 (UTC)

@Zaptain United, I created a survey section, please add a clear !vote there. Dw31415 (talk) 03:06, 26 November 2025 (UTC)

• COMMONNAME per @ZLEA

Dw31415 (talk) 15:14, 28 November 2025 (UTC)

Option 1 if that's how the NY Times, Washington Post and other WP:RSs do it, unless/until there's a better WP:COMMONNAME. That said, Wikipedia isn't a newspaper so waiting an hour for the media to pick a name might be the best choice in practice. ~ Argenti Aertheri^(Chat?) 17:34, 3 November 2025 (UTC)

I'd argue that calling this an "American Airlines" flight would be a bit misleading since American Airlines does not operate the Bombardier CRJ700 series of regional aircraft. "American Eagle" is only how American Airlines markets itself as a regional carrier but doesn't necessarily "operate" a flight. I remember reading the article of Comair Flight 5191, where Delta couldn't be held liable, since Comair managed its own flight crew and pilots, even though Comair was a complete subsidiary of Delta Air Lines. It's likely that the same may apply here, although news reports read that family members of the victims are suing both American and PSA for the accident.

In the preliminary report, the NTSB almost never makes mention of American Airlines, or American Eagle for that matter. The lead paragraph remarks that PSA Airlines operated Flight 5342, with no mention of American Airlines whatsoever. Only later, does it mention that PSA Airlines is a wholly-owned subsidiary of American.

Zaptain United (talk) 19:38, 3 November 2025 (UTC)

Discussion

Adding space for discussion. Dw31415 (talk) 02:59, 26 November 2025 (UTC)

@Zaptain United, thanks for creating the RfC, I remember there being extensive discussion on this at both the talk pages for Delta Connection Flight 4819 and American Airlines Flight 5342 (IATA name). I think it's important to ping the editors from those discussions here as part of RFCBEFORE. I could maybe do it next week, but I suggest caution in requesting close without that step. Dw31415 (talk) 03:03, 26 November 2025 (UTC)

Here's the draft of the RfC from my page so you could at least make sure to ping those editors. Draft RfC on my talk Dw31415 (talk) 03:05, 26 November 2025 (UTC)

Pinging @GalacticOrbits and @Borgenland. Zaptain United (talk) 14:45, 28 November 2025 (UTC)

Honestly I'm not that well-versed in the acronym soup or their regulations. In my private opinion it's the actual livery that matters unless a consensus of reliable sources say otherwise. Borgenland (talk) 15:01, 28 November 2025 (UTC)

Personally, I've toned down my editing routine on Wikipedia since this RfC proposal was created, so my knowledge behind the whole regulation and subsidiary code sharing probably needs some touch-ups.

Nevertheless, what this discussion is trying to achieve is, long overdue, a standard for naming all aviation accidents for regional airlines that operate/market themselves under a major airline (primarily seen through flights in North America, occasionally in Europe, and seldom elsewhere), something that has not been clearly outlined at WP:AATF (I'm aware that it's not a guideline page, but it helps clear out confusion for naming most aviation article accidents). The term used in the industry for this is a "capacity purchase agreement," where major airlines provide the capacity (aircraft) for smaller regional airlines, with the regional airlines hiring crew members and the service, while the major airline is responsible for the maintenance of the aircraft. There have been numerous discussions with varying opinions, some of which include Colgan Air Flight 3407, Trans-Colorado Airlines Flight 2286, and the discussions up above. These discussions argue whether to value WP:COMMONNAME or to be more technically precise. The main issue with WP:COMMONNAME is that the common name differs for different events (see Colgan Air Flight 3407 v/s Continental Express Flight 2574.) and WP:CONSISTENT disputes like this happen time and again.

For future accidents, a possible make-shift solution to address both issues would be to initially name it with the brand name (when it receives maximum publicity) and once the heat dies down and legal proceedings take over (investigation, court hearings, etc.), we can switch it over to the airline name as official bodies would recognise the operator as the body that hired the flight crew and not necessarily the body that owns the aircraft (similar to how we don't use the lessor as the operator of the flight, say calling the accident Andromeda Leasing I Flight 3591 instead of Atlas Air Flight 3591)^[1] In this case, American/Delta techncially act as the lessors to PSA/Endeavor. I'm using my base as Comair Flight 5191, where Comair was held liable (as mentioned above) on grounds of crew negligence and inadequate training. The editors over here can be the judge for my proposal here and decide on how long to wait before renaming the page, but I think this rationale has substantial common ground.

Now regarding the accidents that have already happened, well, I'm not entirely sure. First let's get consensus on a solution and maybe then we can decide what happens to those articles. GalacticOrbits (talk) 10:39, 30 November 2025 (UTC)

Hey, is anyone else going to reply on this RfC? Zaptain United (talk) 00:03, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

@Zaptain United, did you ever open the rfc with a template Wikipedia:Requests for comment#Creating an RfC Dw31415 (talk) 14:39, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

No, is that why no one is replying here? Zaptain United (talk) 14:40, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

The RfC tag expired a few weeks ago (Special:PermaLink/1325087091), though I’m not exactly sure this is ripe for a close with only one person voting. Aviationwikiflight (talk) 17:18, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

I think we should just close this rfc as no consensus and I think I will just do a RFC on the main article for the Potomac Collision to decide the name for Flight 5342. It will probably get more attention. Zaptain United (talk) 19:40, 27 January 2026 (UTC)

I agree that this should be closed. Unless there is an objection, I’ll close this as withdrawn. Dw31415 (talk) 15:19, 18 February 2026 (UTC)

I didn’t get a chance to do it yet and next couple of days are sketchy too. Dw31415 (talk) 03:44, 21 February 2026 (UTC)