Just curious what your source is for the aircraft descriptions that go with the aircraft codes.
For example for the Convair 580 turbine series which is CVLT you show it as the Canadair CL-66. The Canadair built only a small number of the Convairlines and they had old Napier Eland turbines which have all been removed. Strange that your description would have such an obscure chapter in the Convairliners lineage. Aslo the the CVLP, the piston radial versions of the venerable Convairs is listed as an HC-131, again an obscure military descriptor for the Convair 330/440 series. Lastly the G159, which is the Gulfstream G-1, is described as the Grumman Acadamie. This is a long since retired US Navy version that had the nose of a A-6 Intruder grafter onto it to train crews.
There are other too but those really stood out in my mind. Just find it weird I guess.
Most aircraft codes have at least a half dozen different options; we default to whichever appeared first in the FAA contractions publication. We’re happy to change them when someone who has knowledge of the fleet mentions a better choice to best describe the currently active fleet.
CVLT is now CONVAIR | CV-580
CVLP is now CONVAIR | CV-340 Convairliner
G159 is now Grumman | Gulfstream 1
SH33 is listed as the SHORT Sherpa which is the US military version only. The common name is the Shorts 330.
PC7 is listed as Pilatus AT-92 Turbo Trainer which is a really obscure designation since it’s what the Uraguayan air force (!) calls the Pilatus PC-7 Trainer.
Another one is the A748 which is listed as Hawker Siddeley HS-780 Andover. The HS 780 a military transport that was developed from the HS 748 commercial aircraft. All of the 748’s in North America are registered to Canadian operators and none of them are HS 780 but rather 748s. The designation should be Hawker Siddeley HS 748.
Incidently, the reason the code is A748 is because in the late 50’s the 748 was designed by a group of companies called the Hawker Siddeley Group which was lead by Avro (A. V. Roe). The the aircraft first flew in 1960 as the Avro 748 but by 1963 the Avro name was dropped and the type became known as the Hawker Siddeley HS 748.
Unless you wear a pocket protector, you are, like me, an aviation geek.
Here’s one reason why I say with pride I am an aviation geek: I don’t think I’ve properly identified an aircraft until I get the exact model. Calling it a 737, for example, isn’t good enough (or geeky enough) for me. I need to know that it’s a 737-7H4 or 737-222.
Take a look at my page on FlightMemory and you’ll see what I mean.
[quote=“damiross”]
I need to know that it’s a 737-7H4 or 737-222./quote]
Dami, I thought I had read…maybe in a forum in here that the “737-7H4” for example, that the H4 portion identified which customer that particular 737-700 model went to. Am I mistaken?[/quote]
You are correct. The second and third characters indicate the original Boeing customer. The first digit is the series (100, 200, etc.)
Note that I said the 2nd and 3rd characters. Some Boeing aircraft have a suffix in the series number that could be confused with the customer code. For example, Pan Am operated the 707-321C. In this case, the “21” indicates Pan Am and the “C” indicates a convertible (i.e. cargo or passenger) model of the 707.
LOL, exactly…wait a few years and a few corporate mergers/takeovers later it’'ll be a Boeing 748! Up here in the great white North we just call them Hawkers or 748s. Some of the older controllers will still on occasion call them Avros.
Got a couple more over in the corporate world as my geekiness knows no bounds. The Falcon 50 and Falcon 900 both have “Mystere” in their names. The Nmae Mystere came from the Dassault built single engine fighter. The Mystere 20 was a further development in the form of a light jet transport aircraft. The design later became known as the Falcon 20 Mystere. Before the design further evolved into the 10, 50, 900, 2000 etc. the Mystere name was dropped. Today the 50 and 900 are simply referred to as Falcon 50 and Flacon 900.
If you’re talking about other manufacturers having customer numbers encoded into their model number then no, there isn’t, because most manufacturers do not do that.
I think Lockheed did have customer codes as part of the model number for the TriStar but I haven’t been able to confirm that.
B190 is listed as Raytheon 1900 however every other type made by Beechcraft is listed as Beechcraft. I think this would be more correct as **Beechcraft 1900 **as it is essentially the longest fuselage stretch of the King Air line. I have yet to meet anyone that calls the Beech 1900 a Raytheon 1900.
BE10 is listed as Beechcraft 100 King Air while the other King Airs have the model number at the end: Beechcraft King Air 90, Beechcraft Super King Air 200, Beechcraft Super King Air 350.
T6 is listed as NOORDUYN Harvard which was specifically the Canadian version of the North American T-6 Texan built by Noorduyn (later Canadian Car Foundry - CCF) just outside of Montreal. I think it would be more fitting if the description read **North American T-6 Texan **.
I noticed that CVLP reverted back to the very specific military model of the Convair 330/440 type. Does this mean that there is only radial engine Convir flying in all of North America and it is an ex. Air Force C-131 H-model?
DC3T is listed as BASLER BT-67 Turbo 67. The BT-67 is only one of two flavors of turbine conversion of the DC-3 running rampant (I wish) around North America. The other one is AMI Corp’s conversion which is not quite as involved as the Basler job. Perhaps the best name would be something a little more generic like Douglas DC-3 turbine conversion…or something like that.
For comparison, here’s a Basler conversion (note the redesigned nacelles and sqaured off wingtips):
