Online resources for aircraft recognition

S

Sarah

Pre-Flight
Joined
Jul 29, 2012
Messages
31
Display Name
Display name:
Sarah
Anyone know of any good sites or apps that will improve my aircraft recognition?
I have Jane's aircraft recognition guide and a few other books as well but I find myself searching the web when I have downtime and I would rather put my free time to better use.

I'm especially interested in biplanes and corporate jets.

Thanks!
 
What I mean is, I don't carry the book with me.
 
Unless you are physically around all the different planes all day, every day, it's just going to come down to memory, or association. After 11 years of flying, at first glance I still can't tell the difference between a 182 and a 172 from 100' away. I usually go inspect the prop to know for sure. I can't tell the difference between a 150 and a 152, or all the models of a 172.

Don't even ask me about twins until I get right up them. Unless of course it's a Beech 18, those tend to set themselves apart. Corporate aircraft. I couldn't pick one out except for maybe a Falcon, those have 3 engines, I think.

Then again, if I am never going to fly one (whatever it is), I don't really care much about it.
 
LifeBytes' "Aircraft Tail Number Lookup": free app to look up info on a a/c by its tail number. Handy for looking up make and model.
 
I'm constantly calling out make and model of different airplanes when were taxiing around the airport. One day one of my young female students thanked me for that, saying she knew very few aircraft types beyond what she'd trained in, and appreciated learning about them. Who knew?
 
I still have my deck of aircraft recognition cards, like these.

Not sure that it's exactly what you're looking for, though.
 
Thanks, I'll check it out.
Specifically, I'd like to know the difference between a falcon, Beechcraft, citation , globe master .. Stuff like that. There are a lot at the airport I fly out of and I'd just like to learn the biplanes for fun.. You deHavilland, steeman.. Etc
 
EdFred said:
Unless you are physically around all the different planes all day, every day, it's just going to come down to memory, or association.
Click to expand...

This. I can recognize probably 95% of GA stuff that is post 1940. The really early stuff I'm not as good at, but I can do it. I also am not great at military stuff. But that's what working five years on the line will do. I can't really identify a 175 vs a 172 or a 150 vs 152 but other than that I can tell all the Cessnas apart (including twins and Jets), most of the Pipers (maybe not so much Warrior vs Archer), the Beech stuff (jets included).. and it's just because I was around it every day. Heck, I can even tell the different variations of King Airs apart. There is no other way to do it than spending a few weeks at a busy GA airport. Take a phone/iPad with you and if you don't know what it is google the N number and after awhile you won't need to do that anymore.
 
EdFred said:
Then again, if I am never going to fly one (whatever it is), I don't really care much about it.
Click to expand...

I'm that way with most aircraft unless it's something very unique or fun looking. I could careless when it comes to corporate jets.
 
I can tell the differences between model years of most makes of GA planes - can tell the difference between any of the Cessna models at a quick glance.

PS - 175s are easy. Look for the cowl hump.
 
Sarah said:
Anyone know of any good sites or apps that will improve my aircraft recognition?
I have Jane's aircraft recognition guide and a few other books as well but I find myself searching the web when I have downtime and I would rather put my free time to better use.

I'm especially interested in biplanes and corporate jets.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

What about corporate biplanes?
 
Sara, Just make a trip to Oshkosh during Airventure. You can see almost any kind of airplane you will ever encounter in one place. By the way the best bi plane is the Naval Aircraft Factory N3N. Puts the Stearman to shame.:yesnod: Don
 

Attachments

  • MVC-014S.JPG
    MVC-014S.JPG
    39.9 KB · Views: 5
  • MVC-015S.JPG
    MVC-015S.JPG
    38.9 KB · Views: 4
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top