Designators are approved shortened versions of the aircraft manufacturer's designation that are used on flight progress strips, shown in the data blocks and En Route Decision Support Tools (EDST) views, used in ATC communications, and to determine appropriate separation.
Civilian aircraft designators contain two to four characters. The first character is always a letter. The remaining characters can be letters or numbers.
Military aircraft designators begin with a letter that indicates the aircraft's mission/tactical status. Military aircraft designators are 4 characters or less.
Alpha character indicating the aircraft mission |
Alphanumeric type designator representing the model or series |
|---|---|
| 1. A – Attack | 1. A37 |
| 2. B – Bomber | 2. B52 |
| 3. C – Cargo Transport | 3. C130 |
| 4. E – Special Electronic Installation | 4. E2 |
| 5. F – Fighter | 5. F15 |
| 6. H – Helicopter | 6. H47 |
| 7. K – Tanker | 7. K35E |
| 8. O – Observation | 8. O1 |
| 9. P – Patrol | 9. P3 |
| 10. R – Reconnaissance | 10. RF4 |
| 11. S – Antisubmarine | 11. S3 |
| 12. T – Trainer | 12. T38 |
| 13. U – Utility | 13. UH1 |
| 14. V – VTOL and STOL | 14. V22 |
| 15. X – Research | 15. X15 |
For example, the Northrop Grumman B2-Spirit is a bomber, so the designator is B2.