Field guide

33 types, grouped by manufacturer and family.

ATR

ATR 42/72 family

• ATR 42/72

  ATR

  High wing, T-tail, and visible spinning propellers rule out every regional jet at a glance — the props vs. jets split is the first thing to check

Airbus

Airbus A220 family

• Airbus A220

  Airbus

  Curved, canted winglets blend smoothly into the tip — softer and less swept than an A320-family sharklet, with no flat fence plates

Airbus A300 family

• Airbus A300-600F

  Airbus

  Short and fat for a widebody — noticeably stubbier and stockier than an A330, despite the two-aisle cabin cross-section

Airbus A320 family

• Airbus A319

  Airbus

  Wingtip fences (flat plates above and below the tip) are the default — an upturned sharklet marks a rare neo or retrofit

• Airbus A320ceo

  Airbus

  Wingtip fences, not sharklets, are the tell against any neo

• Airbus A320neo

  Airbus

  Sharklets plus visibly fat engine nacelles mark it as a neo

• Airbus A321ceo

  Airbus

  Four overwing exits (two pairs) instead of the A320's two are the length tell up close

• Airbus A321neo

  Airbus

  Sharklets plus a visibly stretched fuselage separate it from an A320neo

Airbus A330 family

• Airbus A330 (ceo)

  Airbus

  Four-wheel main gear bogies rule out any 777 (six-wheel) at a glance

• Airbus A330neo

  Airbus

  Visibly fatter, deeper engine nacelles than the ceo — the single fastest ceo-vs-neo tell side by side

Airbus A350 family

• Airbus A350-900

  Airbus

  Dark tinted "raccoon mask" band around the cockpit windows is the fastest A350 tell — no 787 or A330 has it

• Airbus A350-1000

  Airbus

  Six-wheel main bogie is THE -900-vs-1000 tell — the -900 always has four wheels per leg

Airbus A380 family

• Airbus A380

  Airbus

  The only airliner with a full double deck running nearly the entire fuselage length — unmistakable even at a distance

Boeing

Boeing 717 family

• Boeing 717

  Boeing

  T-tail plus two rear-fuselage-mounted engines is a silhouette nothing else in the current fleet shares

Boeing 737 family

• Boeing 737 MAX

  Boeing

  Serrated, saw-toothed (chevron) trailing edge on the engine cowling — no other 737 or A320-family jet has this

• Boeing 737NG

  Boeing

  The engine nacelle is sliced flat on the bottom — the classic 737 tell, needed for ground clearance on its low-slung gear

Boeing 747 family

• Boeing 747-400

  Boeing

  If you see a 747 today, odds are it is a freighter — check for cargo doors and a windowless main deck

• Boeing 747-8

  Boeing

  Chevron (saw-tooth) trailing edge on huge GEnx nacelles is unique among 747s — the -400 has plain round nacelles

Boeing 757 family

• Boeing 757

  Boeing

  Long, slender, "stretched" fuselage on a comparatively narrow, short wing — looks pulled taut compared to any A320-family jet

Boeing 767 family

• Boeing 767

  Boeing

  The narrowest true widebody flying — noticeably fatter cross-section than a 757 but visibly slimmer than an A330 or 777

Boeing 777 family

• Boeing 777-200

  Boeing

  Six-wheel main gear bogie is the single fastest 777-family tell — no other twin in this fleet has it

• Boeing 777-300

  Boeing

  Longest 777 fuselage, with a visibly long tail cone stretching well behind the wing

Boeing 787 family

• Boeing 787-8

  Boeing

  Chevron (saw-tooth) nacelle trailing edge plus four flat cockpit windowpanes are the fastest 787-family tells vs. any other widebody

• Boeing 787-9

  Boeing

  Fuselage length sits between the stubby -8 and the visibly longer -10

• Boeing 787-10

  Boeing

  Longest fuselage in the 787 family — the most stretched-looking of the three variants

Bombardier

Bombardier CRJ family

• Bombardier CRJ200

  Bombardier

  Rear-fuselage engines and a T-tail separate it (and the ERJ145) from any E-Jet, which has underwing engines and a conventional tail

• Bombardier CRJ700/900/1000

  Bombardier

  Rear-fuselage engines plus a T-tail is the fastest way to separate any CRJ from an E-Jet, which has underwing engines and a conventional tail — the classic regional-jet split

Bombardier (de Havilland Canada)

Dash 8 family

• Bombardier Dash 8 Q400

  Bombardier (de Havilland Canada)

  High wing, T-tail, and visible spinning propellers rule out every regional jet at a glance — the props vs. jets split is the first thing to check

Embraer

Embraer E-Jet (E1) family

• Embraer E170/E175

  Embraer

  Underwing engines and a conventional low tailplane separate any E-Jet from a CRJ or ERJ, which mount their engines on the rear fuselage under a T-tail — the classic regional-jet split

• Embraer E190/E195

  Embraer

  Underwing engines and a conventional tail separate any E-Jet from a CRJ or ERJ, which have rear-fuselage engines under a T-tail

Embraer E-Jet E2 family

• Embraer E-Jet E2 (E190-E2/E195-E2)

  Embraer

  Underwing engines and a conventional tail separate any E-Jet from a CRJ or ERJ, which have rear-fuselage engines under a T-tail

Embraer ERJ 135/145 family

• Embraer ERJ145

  Embraer

  Rear-fuselage engines and a T-tail mark it (and the CRJ) apart from any E-Jet, which has underwing engines and a conventional tail — the classic regional-jet split

McDonnell Douglas

McDonnell Douglas MD-11 family

• McDonnell Douglas MD-11F

  McDonnell Douglas

  Three engines — two underwing plus one buried in the tail fin — is unmistakable and shared with no other aircraft flying commercial freight today