how can you tell the difference between certain planes?

Question

like if you see them in the sky how can you tell if its a 757 or a 737 or a airbus a319 or a320 or a321.. obviously you can tell a a380 and a 747 apart but not those ones that i listed.

Answer 1

You can usually tell the difference between aircraft by engine placement, amount of engine, wing type, window configuration, etc...

Answer 2

When they are flying high up it's really hard to tell them apart. The difference between those airbus aircraft are hard to tell apart even up close. The only real difference between a A319 and a A321 is the length of the fuselage. Most airliners today are twin engine. If the exhaust is coming from near the rear rather than under the wings chances are it's a MD80, DC9 or 717 family or a private jet.
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Answer 3

After some time you pick up immediatly. For me the 757 and 737 are easy. The A32X series is kinda difficult. I tend t0 match the size of the engines to the fuseladge for the 319/320/321. The A321 is very long compared to it's engine. The 319 is very short compared to it's engine. If it's not a 321 or 319, then it's a 320.

Answer 4

Two thing:
1- You don't need to.
2- If you really wanna know you have to take a look of an Airplane shape, if you did you'll be able to know that 747 has 4 engines and 777 has two and if you wanna know if it Boeing or airbus you should know the colors then the size, Boeing 747 much bigger than 777 and from the sound as this you go.

Answer 5

Well, the A320 has 2 emergency doors on each side at the wing while the A319 has 1 on each side. That's how I tell them apart.
A great way is to look at the general length and shape, number and position of doors and by the winglets, 'cause not all planes have them.

Answer 6

it's quite easy after awhile. buy some books. a 757 is a narrowbody so it looks like a flying cigar and its engines look proportionately too big for its fuselage and wings. a 737 is smaller than a 757 and its fuselage/wing/engines look more proportioned. sorry you probably dont know what i mean but that's how i tell them apart. of course if you can see the wheels then the difference is obvious.

Answer 7

Aircraft Recognition just requires study and practice... My best suggestion would be to copy and print out the silhouette drawings from Wikipedia, or Jane's Aircraft

I'm not terribly good with commercial aircraft... but as a US Naval Aircrewman, I spent 15 years memorizing and teaching aircraft recognition. 2-3 hours a week looking at slides and silhouettes.

As other's point out... it's a subtle art to file away in your brain the placement of engines, shapes of wing, tail, fuselage, and their relative sizes. VERY important in the military... the F/A-18 and Mig-29 were VERY close in appearance, yet ONE was an aircraft I never wanted to bump into in our helicopter.

Interestingly... SOME folks can EVEN ID an aircraft by its SOUND !! I drive my friends nuts by identifying helicopters flying around the Bay Area soley on their sound: Coast Guard Daulphin, Air Force/Air Guard MH-60, MH-53, MH-47, Marine Huey, Sea Knight, the local cop birds, news birds... the 58 Hz engine sounds of a P-3C Orion or C-130.

Answer 8

There are books available. However, at about 15,000 feet, they start getting too far away to see many of the structures that would be used for identification with bare eyes, so you may need binoculars to do this effectively.

Answer 9

check out this site it has over 1 million photos of Aircraft of all types, this is a pretty good site for saving photos of aircraft for recognition http://www.airliners.net/search/index.main

Answer 10

placements of the wings