Noob question #2 - I want to make sure I’m using the correct call sign for correct flights. How do I know whether to use the “Heavy” suffix, ie which jets qualify? I’m mainly going to fly BA livery/routes once I get a few more landings done in my GA Cessna 😉. See you all in the skies.
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Hello! Heavy suffix is used for aircrafts like 787, 777, 747, A330, A340, A350
You can refer more to this thread for suffixes ;)
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If you tap on the heavy call sign, it says for aircraft with an mtow of more than 300,000 lbs are heavy and super.
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anything bigger then a 767 or a330 or lager is considered heavy, basically if it is a twin isle
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to clarifie 767, 787, 777, 747, A330, A340, A380 are considered heave the a380 could be ether “super” or heavy In real life they are called “super heavy”
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Adding on to what my fellow community member has said, if your aircraft doesn’t exceed 136 tonnes (MTOW) then there isn’t a necessity to add Heavy or Super suffix. You still could as they still count for those suffixes as they are in the category of being Heavy aircraft but unless you took off at that weight there’s no need, in my opinion, as when you have those suffix, they translate into that your plane is Heavy and need a longer runway to takeoff from or land at. Also that a Go-Around may be more difficult for you.
If you’re flying a 777 which is a Heavy but with no Passenger or Cargo, and half full fuel tank, then it doesn’t qualify to be labeled as Heavy.
I rarely use these suffixes since i don’t takeoff with high payload but would if necessary.
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Thanks! (As always, what I love here is you ask what seems like a basic question and get a ton of really interesting info to read).
Now all I need to do is learn to fly …
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Everyone has covered this pretty well so far. To add, the 757 does use the Heavy suffix. The Maximum Takeoff Weight isn’t 300,000 lbs, but due to incidents where 757 wake caused crashes it was added.
In summary: 757 and all the wide-bodies that other people have said. Use Super when flying the A380.
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Essentially, use Heavy for all of the widebody jets, except for the A380, in which you would use Super. Only the A380 uses Super. In addition, if you want, you can use Heavy for the 757, but it is quite rare nowadays so I would not use Heavy for 757 as it used to use the Heavy callsign but I don’t believe that it does anymore.
Paragraph 3 says differently. This is the Wikipedia article on the term Heavy in aeronautics.
757s are treated as heavies, but do not use the Heavy callsign.
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Where do I find that on IF? Thomas?
Anything with a CERTIFIED takeoff weight of 300k or more is a heavy aircraft wether it actually weighs it or not.
It is not considered a heavy but in ATC it has a special wake turbulence category.
But it’s not obligatory for me to use the suffix every time i fly i.e a 777. I never use the suffix although i know my plane fit’s in tothe category.
You can’t say that every 747, 757, 767, 777, A330, A340, A350 uses heavy in their callsign. Sure they are in that category but adding the suffix to their callsign as if you were to call out i.e Lufthansa 740 Heavy is not every flight does even if they are heavy.
I am not saying that they are not heavy ir super but rather you don’t need to add the suffix to the callsign since they don’t cross the 300,000 lbs weight even though they are considered to be Heavy and Super respectively.
Yeah you can find that in infinite flight but in real life they have heavy on the callsign if their MTOW is 300,000lbs or greater regardless of actual takeoff weight. Super is only the A380 and AN225.
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That is true, in IF there really isn’t a rule to whether you should have a suffix or not but they use it on a regular basis IRL.
I don’t think everyone who plays the sim even knows that, well i for certain think too much about until now, i guess i even learned something new. As i never really paid enough attention to what ATC calls out the callsign as IRL.
i.e…
Portugal 234 Heavy | A330-300
Qatari 172 Heavy | 787-8
Asiana 220 Super | A380-800
So i guess i’ll start using the suffix again like i used to before as it makes everything more realistic :)
But i have heard by watching some ATC videos on youtube that some Heavies and Super doesn’t call in that they are Heavy or Super instead they just simply say Airliner + Flight Number, i.e Dynasty 5386… no Heavy but ATC calls out Heavy…
Aviation is one of those subjects that no matter how much you know there’s still more to know. I’m not sure of the airliners requirements but ATC must use it for the purpose of effecting wake turbulence separation minima and so they don’t forget.
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