Finding Information About Aircraft Types
At the end of the 7110.65 there are a few appendixes, the first three of which are appendix A, B, and C. These give a good amount of information about each aircraft type. There are a few different software packages that will look this information up for you in a more user friendly manner. These are discussed elsewhere. Also, VRC will lookup information on specific aircraft types. See the VRC documentation for more details.Airplanes
7110.65 Appendix A covers airplanes. It provides information about the type designator to be used in the flight plan, number and type of powerplant(s), wake turbulence category, and some performance information. Here are some examples:
This example describes the Cirrus SR20 series aircraft. The type designator column shows that "SR20" should be used in the flight plan for aircraft type. "1P" means that the aircraft has one piston powered engine. "S" means that it is a small aircraft for wake turbulence considerations.
The SRS category is used for determining same runway separation, and the LAHSO group is used to determine whether or not it is eligible for land and hold short operations on a particular runway, both of these topics will be covered in the tower lessons.
This example describes the Beech 1900. The type designator column shows that "B190" should be used in the flight plan for aircraft type. "2T" means that the aircraft has two turboprop engines. "S" means that it is a small aircraft for wake turbulence considerations; the "+" means that it is a large aircraft for class B airspace considerations (this will be covered later). The climb and descent rates are estimates to give controllers and idea of what to expect.
This example describes the Martin 404. The type designator column shows that "M404" should be used in the flight plan for aircraft type. "2P" means that the aircraft has two piston-powered engines. "L" means that it is a large aircraft for wake turbulence considerations.
This example describes the B-52. The type designator column shows that "B52" should be used in the flight plan for aircraft type. "8J" means that the aircraft has eight jet engines. "H" means that it is a heavy aircraft for wake turbulence considerations.
This is an example of a tricky case. All four of these models are Piper Cheyennes, but there are four different type designators and each has a different LAHSO group. It's also a tricky case because the type designator doesn't follow the model number abbreviation like most other airplanes do.
Helicopters
7110.65 Appendix B covers helicopters. The format is similar to that used for airplanes. Here's an example:
For all of the different models listed, the same "H60" type designator is used. It has two turbine powered engines, and is in the "S+" weight class as discussed for the Beech 1900 above.
Experimental Aircraft
Experimental aircraft cover a wide variety of performance capabilities, and it's not possible to list all of them in appendix A or B. So, the FAA has created three categories for these types of aircraft and listed them in 7110.65 Appendix C. These are very rarely seen on vatsim:
