Why did Red Squadron give their call signs in random order?

Question

One thing that has always confused me about Star Wars: A New Hope is that at the beginning of the attack on the Death Star, Red Squadron gives their callsigns in random order.

Red Leader (presumably Red One) asks for everyone to report in. Then we hear Ten, Seven, Three, Six, Nine, Two, Eleven, and Five are all standing by.

This seems like an incredibly impractical way to report in, as it's hard to keep track of whom you have heard from and whom you are missing (indeed, Red Four and Red Eight didn't report in, despite both being present, but I bet you didn't notice that).

Why didn't they count off in numerical order? Something like this:

Red Leader: All wings report in.

Wedge Antilles: Red Two standing by.

Biggs Darklighter: Red Three standing by.

[Silence]

Red Leader: Red Four? …Are you there Red Four?

Answer 1

In-universe

According to the new (canon) junior novelisation of A New Hope, the pilots were calling roll in the order that their names appeared on the flight roster.

“All wings report in,” Red Leader called.
They moved down the roster. Biggs chimed in as Red Three, Wedge as Red Two.
“Red Five standing by,” Luke said when it was his turn.
“Lock S-foils in attack position,” Red Leader said

Since Luke is called last, the obvious implication is that the muster sheet is either in order of seniority or longevity.

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Out-of-universe

This was addressed by Pablo Hidalgo in Star Wars Insider #95.

For dramatic purposes, it was important for Luke to be the last to check in. The other featured pilots (Porkins, Biggs, and Wedge) all needed face time, but pacing is likely what dictated the order of the other pilot's reports. Besides, having to hear the pilots reporting in order from Two to Ten would have been rather tedious.

Answer 2

In Episode IV, and (from the EU) prior to the Battle of Yavin, the Rebel Alliance is more of a collection independent cells with very few experienced military personnel seasoning their ranks.

For example, we see Luke Skywalker planted in a T-65 X-Wing Starfighter because of his familiarity with Incom standard controls from his T-16. At this point, growing up on a backwater (backsand?) planet, he would have had no training in military procedures or protocols.

It's likely that this random callback is a symptom of the lack of training across the Alliance.

Of course, by Episode V and beyond, the Alliance has grown into a professional, combat seasoned organisation with multiple capital ships in their fleet.

out-of-universe: probably just because of editing

Answer 3

Red Squadron isn't a cohesive military unit.

Red Squadron was cobbled together from pilots from the Dantooine Squadron, the Ecliptic Evaders, and the Tierfon Yellow Aces for the assault on the Death Star (via Wookieepedia, sourced from "Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back")

As such, they never practiced flying together and weren't used to each other.

In addition, some of them were NOT trained combat pilots (including, as @HorusKol's answer notes, Luke Skywalker. Another one was Wedge's new trainee).

Their unfamiliarity with communications protocols is even further shown in the infamous:

Wedge Antilles (Red 2): Look at the size of that thing!
Red Leader: Cut the chatter, Red 2.

... and this is a hot shot veteran Wedge Antilles.

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An additional point: The reporting isn't so much to check who's there and who isn't (like, they all SHOULD be there :) but more to sound off if anyone has issues with the fighter - in other words, what matters isn't who and when says "standing by" but who say anything else.

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UPDATE: I also asked about out of universe angle of this on Aviation SE. So far, it was confirmed that real military fighters would use correct order (and wait for "missing" call sign to respond instead of responding willy nilly)

Answer 4

It's only impractical if you assume that every attack formation has all the X-wing pilots organized in a specific formation every time, and that they always call out their call signs in numeric order.

Not only would this be impractical (what if Red 4 and Red 8 are both in for repairs?), it would mean each X-wing pilot would have to fly in a specific location in that formation, regardless of where their actual expertise lies.

You will notice, however, that the call signs begin with Red Leader, and end with Luke Skywalker, the brand new recruit to the Rebel Alliance. Without knowing anything about the rest of the call sign pilots, it'd be a fair guess that their call signs are ordered by pilot rank.

Edit Note: DVK suggests that this guess is incorrect - and I cannot comfirm whether it is or not, so treat it with a grain of salt. There may still be some other arbitrary reason for their call sign order - seniority, position in formation, order of first/last name in the alphabet, order of character death/importance...

Answer 5

Perhaps they were reporting in following a pattern, such as left-to-right in the formation. The callsigns would be assigned to the person, but they wouldn't always fly in that order. They might fly without all numbers present -- so a 4-ship might have Red 4, Red 2, Red 7 and Red 5 flying in line abrest, and their convention was to check in from left to right.

I don't quite buy the "undisciplined rag tag unit" theory simply because nobody stepped on each other's transmissions. They seemed to know who is supposed to be checking in next, even though it wasn't the next number in sequence.

In a squadron where each pilot has their own numeric callsign, it's entirely possible to have Bozo 10 flight being led by Bozo 62, with Bozo 44 as his wingman, then Bozo 88 as the second element lead with Bozo 32 as his wingman. The usual convention in this galaxy is to check in as Lead, 2, 3, and 4, but evidently their convention is different.

In this galaxy, we also wouldn't check in with "standing by... standing by... standing by..." because it's a waste of time & breath. "Bozo 10 check" "2" "3" "4". But they were in a galaxy far, far away, and clearly our conventions are not their conventions!

Answer 6

More a guess than an actual answer, but couldn't it be because they are not checking in in caller number order, but in i.e. the order based on their positions in the attack formation? It would be more logical, because it would ease strategic planning. ("Let's see... we have lost Red-11... he was flying in the middle of the second attack formation, wasn't he?")

Answer 7

In the X-Wing novels, the convention appears to be that in an emergency situation, pilots call back in the order that they launch. For instance, in Wraith Squadron the pilots aboard the carrier Night Caller launch several times while the ship is already engaged in combat. In each case, they report in (and form wing pairs) as they take off, because there isn't time to form up and do it properly.

In A New Hope, the fighters aren't launching directly into combat, but they're presumably in a hurry to scramble and meet the Death Star before it can enter firing range of the base. The fighters who check in first would be the ones who completed their preflight checks fastest or were located closer to the hangar bay doors and so were able to get airborne first and make up the front of the formation. Others who straggled in at the rear would check in last, regardless of their callsign.

Answer 8

They also have advanced droids on each ship that can handle menial tasks such as a roll call in any order even if pilots talked over each other. It would not be worth mentioning every interaction a character had with their robot.

Answer 9

Likely the answer has more to do with the editing of the film. Imagine yourself watching it while the pilots report in numerical order. By the time you get to three, you're like "Ok, I got it! Skip to ten, please"... but that whole attack on Death Star is pretty close to being done in real-time, so as to accentuate the frantic nature of the dogfights.

But to provide an answer that is motivated within the story, they were probably reporting in in order of seniority... red 5 being last.