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

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  Airbus A220

  Airbus

  Curved wingtip blades blend smoothly into the wing — softer and less angled than an A320-family upturned blade (spotters call these "sharklets"), with no flat end-fins like an A320ceo

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

  Small flat end-fins above and below the wingtip (spotters call these "fences") are the default — an upturned blade tip (a "sharklet") marks a rare neo or retrofit

• 

  Airbus A320ceo

  Airbus

  Flat end-fins at the wingtip, not upturned blades, are the tell against any neo

• 

  Airbus A320neo

  Airbus

  Upturned wingtip blades plus visibly fat engine pods 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

  Upturned wingtip blades plus a visibly stretched body separate it from an A320neo

Airbus A330 family

• 

  Airbus A330 (ceo)

  Airbus

  Four wheels on each main landing-gear leg rule out any 777 (six wheels) at a glance

• 

  Airbus A330neo

  Airbus

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

Airbus A350 family

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  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 wheels on each main landing-gear leg is THE -900-vs-1000 tell — the -900 always has four

Airbus A380 family

• 

  Airbus A380

  Airbus

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

Boeing

Boeing 717 family

• 

  Boeing 717

  Boeing

  A T-shaped tail plus two engines mounted on the back of the body is a silhouette nothing else in the current fleet shares

Boeing 737 family

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  Boeing 737 MAX

  Boeing

  Serrated, saw-toothed trailing edge on the engine pod (spotters call this a "chevron") — no other 737 or A320-family jet has this

• 

  Boeing 737NG

  Boeing

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

Boeing 747 family

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  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

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  Boeing 747-8

  Boeing

  Saw-tooth trailing edge on the huge GEnx engine pods (spotters call this a "chevron") is unique among 747s — the -400 has plain round pods

Boeing 757 family

• 

  Boeing 757

  Boeing

  Long, slender, "stretched" body 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 wheels on each main landing-gear leg is the single fastest 777-family tell — no other twin-engine jet in this fleet has it

• 

  Boeing 777-300

  Boeing

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

Boeing 787 family

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  Boeing 787-8

  Boeing

  Saw-tooth engine-pod trailing edge (spotters call this a "chevron") plus four flat cockpit windowpanes are the fastest 787-family tells vs. any other widebody

• 

  Boeing 787-9

  Boeing

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

• 

  Boeing 787-10

  Boeing

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

Bombardier

Bombardier CRJ family

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  Bombardier CRJ200

  Bombardier

  Engines on the back of the body plus a T-shaped tail separate it (and the ERJ145) from any E-Jet, which has underwing engines and a low tail

• 

  Bombardier CRJ700/900/1000

  Bombardier

  Engines mounted on the back of the body plus a T-shaped tail is the fastest way to separate any CRJ from an E-Jet, which has underwing engines and a low tail — the classic regional-jet split

Bombardier (de Havilland Canada)

Dash 8 family

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  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

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  Embraer E170/E175

  Embraer

  Underwing engines and a low tail separate any E-Jet from a CRJ or ERJ, which mount their engines on the back of the body under a T-shaped tail — the classic regional-jet split

• 

  Embraer E190/E195

  Embraer

  Underwing engines and a low tail separate any E-Jet from a CRJ or ERJ, which have engines on the back of the body under a T-shaped tail

Embraer E-Jet E2 family

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  Embraer E-Jet E2 (E190-E2/E195-E2)

  Embraer

  Underwing engines and a low tail separate any E-Jet from a CRJ or ERJ, which have engines on the back of the body under a T-shaped tail

Embraer ERJ 135/145 family

• 

  Embraer ERJ145

  Embraer

  Engines on the back of the body plus a T-shaped tail mark it (and the CRJ) apart from any E-Jet, which has underwing engines and a low tail — the classic regional-jet split

McDonnell Douglas

McDonnell Douglas MD-11 family

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  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