FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Identifying make/model of AA planes from the outside
Old Jun 5, 2009, 11:44 pm
  #11  
dstan
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Don't think the ridge at the base of the 737-800 tail has been mentioned yet - helps distinguish 737 and 757 (if you can't see the wheels or are at a distance, and especially since more and more of the 757s have been fitted with winglets).

Also, to address a query above, the A300 does have 2 rows (pairs) of wheels on the main gear, but I'd still go by the winglets.

The regional jets are tougher - this is the best I could come up with back when I was trying to figure these out:

Canadair CRJ
- 2-engine regional jet with T-tail
- top of tail has a rounded bump toward the front
- evenly sloping nose

Embraer 135 / 140 / 145
- 2-engine regional jet with T-tail
- top of tail slopes downward
- sharper angle at the nose

Side-by-side, the CRJ is larger and wider, of course, but on their own, they can still be tough to identify.
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