How Aviation Geeks Identify Airplanes at a Glance (and How You Can, Too)

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Those of you who are aviation geeks amaze me.

I mean, you can glance at a plane and know what it is.

How do you even DO that???

Me? I’m lucky if I can recognize the logo on a plane’s tail. But if nothing else, I wanted to understand what my husband (the aviation geek) is talking about when he looks up and says, “That’s a Boeing 737” or “There goes an A319.” I found this, which helps explain the difference between Boeing and Airbus:

Here’s a breakdown of what’s in the video:

Is it a Boeing or an Airbus?

• 0:54 – Cockpit windows (especially the side shape)
• 1:40 – Nose shape
• 2:25 – Engine housing shape

Captain Joe also goes into how to differentiate between planes, such as the A330 vs. B777, B767 and B757 vs. A330, A380 vs. B747, and A350 vs. B787.

A few other ways to know that I discovered in my studies are:

• This one is kind of obvious, but Airbus usually starts with A (Boeings, however, don’t start with a B – they’re just numbers, as seen in the next bullet)
• Airbus planes are always in an A3XX format (A320, A350, etc.). Boeing’s planes are always in the 7×7 format (747, 787, etc.). No word on what will happen after the 797, but I bet some of y’all know.

So now you, like me, can say, “Look up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…a Boeing!” You’ll be a real hit at parties 😉

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