NEXtime From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2004, 81 posts, RR: 0 Posted (8 years 9 months 1 week 22 hours ago) and read 2722 times:
A recent article on an aviation website here in the UK asks about "Nicknames" for airliners...
A "Jumbo" or "Lump" is a Boeing 747 (Or a "Floppy" in the case of a 747-400!)
A "Pig" or "Bobby" is a Boeing 737
A "Bong" or "Kipper" is a Boeing 707
A "Minibus" is an A320
A "Cave Monster" is a Tuploev 154 (I like this one!)
A "Spider" is a Tupolev 134
A "Whistling Wheelbarrow" is a Yak 40 (I Like this one too!)
And going back a few years:-
A "Breadvan" was a Vickers Vanguard
A "Whale" was a Vickers VC10
A "Budgie" is an HS 748
There must be lots more - Lets hear from you!!
MD11LuxuryLinr From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 1385 posts, RR: 16 Reply 1, posted (8 years 9 months 1 week 22 hours ago) and read 2676 times:
I heard the 737-200 be called a "smurf" by pilots on more than one occasion..
Other 737s, particularly the -300 through the -500s were called "guppies"..
Caution wake turbulence, you are following a heavy jet.
American 767 From United States of America, joined May 1999, 3320 posts, RR: 14 Reply 3, posted (8 years 9 months 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 2641 times:
Delta767300ER From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 2559 posts, RR: 14 Reply 4, posted (8 years 9 months 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 2635 times:
L-1011=Tritanic. And another one was some people said they called it the L-1011 because it was late 10 out of 11 times. Personally, I loved the L-1011 and never had any major problems with one.
ZKSUJ From New Zealand, joined May 2004, 6933 posts, RR: 10 Reply 6, posted (8 years 9 months 4 days 14 hours ago) and read 2591 times:
747 is of course the 'Jumbojet'
Others 737=baby boeing, L111=tristar, BAE146=whisperjet.
For SQ there is Jubilee, Megatop, Big Top, Celestar, Leadership etc... and the BA 744 that carried the English rugby team was dubbed 'Sweet Chariot'
Delta767300ER From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 2559 posts, RR: 14 Reply 10, posted (8 years 9 months 4 days 10 hours ago) and read 2576 times:
NWAskyteam From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 75 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (8 years 9 months 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 2521 times:
747-200....the generic whale...or to the Brits the 747 "Classic"
FLYtoEGCC From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2004, 947 posts, RR: 3 Reply 14, posted (8 years 9 months 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 2517 times:
I quote from a book of mine - 80 Years Of Civil Aviation, Leo Marriott - "[the 737 had] six-abreast seating compared to the five-abreast arrangement of the DC-9 and BAC 1-11. This did give the 737 a rather tubby appearance leading to its well known nickname of FLUFF (Fat Little Ugly Fellow!)"
Vimanav From India, joined Jul 2003, 1470 posts, RR: 20 Reply 17, posted (8 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 2453 times:
I have a couple of personal favorites which are specific to two A300s of Indian Airlines regn VT-EHC and VT-EHD. Pilots fondly refer to them as "hot chocolate" and "hot dog".
rgds//Vimanav
Sarfaroshi kii tamannaa ab hamaare dil mein hai, Dekhnaa hai zor kitnaa baazu-e-qaatil mein hai
NightFlier From United States of America, joined May 2004, 284 posts, RR: 2 Reply 18, posted (8 years 8 months 4 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 2437 times:
As per USA ATC:
747- eighteen wheeler
737- Baby Boeing
777- Big Foot
MD-80- Mad Dog
DC-10 - Diesel Ten
L10ll- Jurassic Jet
I think there are a few more maybe someone at TRACon can help me out
Airplanes are only as good as the people who fly&fix them.
Tristarenvy From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 2265 posts, RR: 4 Reply 19, posted (8 years 8 months 4 weeks 6 hours ago) and read 2424 times:
I read an article where some crews referred to the MD-80, as "The Lawn Dart".
Funny at first 'till you start to think about it, I guess...
If you don't stand for SOMETHING, you'll fall for ANYTHING.
Usairways16bwi From United States of America, joined May 2004, 1003 posts, RR: 4 Reply 22, posted (8 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 2401 times:
i like to call the 757-300 the flying pencil. i also like to refer to the 737 and 777 as david and goliath. lol
TupolevTu154 From UK - England, joined Aug 2004, 2116 posts, RR: 31 Reply 23, posted (8 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 2383 times:
VS4ever From United States of America, joined Jun 2004, 113 posts, RR: 3 Reply 24, posted (8 years 8 months 3 weeks 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 2359 times:
I seem to recall there was a derogatory nickname for Sabena, which was an acroymn, then it used to go that SAS = Same as Sabena, but I can't remember the Sabena part (the n and the a stood for never again, I think)
Can anyone enlighten me.
VS4ever.
Bring Back Orion Airways, you were the best!
25 HLF-MD11: A few years ago I heard on HAJ TOWER frequency : "After IRISH CONCORDE on short final - line up and hold" The aircraft on final : SHORTS SKYVAN SABENA
26 VS4ever: HLF - thanks, I remember it now, I think bloody can be replaced with bad as well, if I remember too, but still. It makes the point! The question is, w
27 Tristar100: Perhaps for the A380 - Klondike Kate! Big bird, ugly and a huge upper deck! Steve.
30 JGPH1A: Re: FLUFF SAA crews used to refer to the 737's as Fluffies. In the SAAF, C130's (and Safair's L100's) were referred to as Flossies.
31 AZjetgeek: "After IRISH CONCORDE on short final - line up and hold" The aircraft on final : SHORTS SKYVAN I love it! Of course, I'm also a fan of the Skyvan. A v
32 Bmacleod: SQ refers to its 747-400 as 'MEGATOP'. The old Lockheed Constellations were often called 'Connies'. AC commonly referred its DC-9s as 'Niners'.[Edited
33 Bmacleod: BA referred its Concordes as 'Speedbird'. Or was it a ATC callsign?[Edited 2004-09-03 02:38:37]
34 Levent: Mmacleod, Speedbird is the callsign for British Airways. Fokker 50 pilots call their plane Pregnant Duck in summer, because it doesn´t climb very goo
35 DAL7e7: Wasn't VS's slogan "More experience than our name suggests" one time? Isn't the F-4 also called the double ugly? Trey
36 10MID: The ERJ has been refered to as "Brasilia Jet" and "Barbie Jet".
37 CanadianNorth: A few that I have used/heard B727 = thunderjet B747 = big whale B777 = Bigfoot ERJs = Jungle Jets CRJs = Skidoos L1011 = tritanic DC-10 = death craft
38 VSXA380X800: Wasn't VS's slogan "More experience than our name suggests" one time? LOL Funny..... Heres one. The A380-Big Bird or Bus
39 RobK: The Bombardier Global Express is called a Globule over here in the UK. Rob K
40 Ryangooner: ever hear of the 777 being referred to as a "MONSTER"? ive heard this a couple of times: "A lump and a monster on finals!" Ryan
41 VSXA380X800: Heres my list of all of my names I came up with- A318-Mini/BabyBus A321-StrechyBus A343-Turn around and take a REAL Bus A345-777Bus A380-Bloated Bus M
42 Ts-ior: MD-80s, DC-8s and DC-9s look like the Japanese high speed train. B753 is a flying pencil. "Un stylo volant".
43 PHLBOS: B753 is a flying pencil. So were the 'stretched' DC-8s. Eastern's L-1011 used to be called "Whisperliner" Around the same timeframe (the '70s), EA cal
Sponsor Message: 
From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2004, 81 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 1385 posts, 
From Ecuador, joined Jul 2004, 103 posts, 
From New Zealand, joined May 2004, 6933 posts, 
From France, joined Jan 2001, 1868 posts, 
From Switzerland, joined Jan 2000, 5265 posts, 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From India, joined Jul 2003, 1470 posts, 
From UK - England, joined Aug 2004, 2116 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
