Aircraft Recognition Guide

Welcome to this aircraft recognition guide! Whether you want to dis­tin­guish an Airbus from a Boeing, learn the diffe­rences between an F-35 and an F-22 or have a photo of an unknown aircraft type (but wish to identify), this website helps you recognise and identify different aircraft types. This aircraft recog­ni­tion guide is also meant for aviation enthu­siasts that already know the basic aircraft type, but want to know how to keep the different versions of an aircraft type apart and identify the exact version.

Recognising an aircraft type starts by looking at specific characteristics of the aircraft: what type of aircraft is it (e.g. airplane or heli­cop­ter), is it a jet or propeller aircraft, how many engines does it have, what is the wing and tail configuration? Or how many rotors does the helicopter have, does it have wheels or skids?

Under menu item "How to recognise aircraft" we have explained what the main characte­ristics are, including their definitions. Once you know what to look for you can start the identification. This can be done in two ways:

1. By main airplane or helicopter charac­te­ristics. Use checkboxes to mark the (main) properties of the airplane or helicopter to be identified. The more different charac­teristics you give, the better your search will be narrowed, eventually (hopefully) bringing you to the webpage of the aircraft you are looking for.
2. By aircraft manufacturer and main aircraft type. If you already know the main type of the aircraft and are just looking for the exact subtype you can also start the identification from the combination of manufacturer and main aircraft type. You can also use the general search function. This covers the whole website and enables you to find all appearances of the aircraft type you are looking for.