ExpressJet_ERJ From United States of America, joined Oct 2001, 827 posts, RR: 4 Reply 4, posted (9 years 9 months 3 weeks 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 2695 times:
When I'm spotting I just look at the wing lengths or the rotating beacon lights. Also the NGs tend to be a little cleaner.
Tango-Bravo From United States of America, joined Jun 2001, 3725 posts, RR: 31 Reply 7, posted (9 years 9 months 3 weeks 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 2505 times:
The only way I have found to readily and positively differentiate a 735 from 733 (other than by the tail number) is to count the number of windows forward of the wing. All aircraft of these types that I have seen have 5 windows in front of the overwing emergency exit plug doors, forward of which there is a space without a window (a structural requirement), in front of which there are 6-8 windows on a 735, 9-11 on a 733. Thus, if there are 8 or fewer windows between the forward door and the space described, one can be as good as certain it's a 735 as surely as 9-11 windows means it's a 733.
The 734's two overwing emergency exit plug type doors on both sides, as noted in a previous reply, make it easy to be distinguished from a 735 or 735 which without exception have one per side.
UN_B732 From United States of America, joined Jul 2001, 4286 posts, RR: 5 Reply 8, posted (9 years 9 months 3 weeks 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 2460 times:
737-400 is the longer one with 2 overwing exits.
737-300 has funky looking CFM egines with 1 overwing exits.
737-500 has less windows before the engines, and not as funky looking engines.
-UN
Capt078 From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 421 posts, RR: 2 Reply 9, posted (9 years 9 months 3 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 2397 times:
yup, -400 has two overwing exits. -300 only one. -500 is much shorter. then there are the -600/-700/-800/-900s. this is a little easier. the -900s are huge, you can't miss them. -800s are also larger than the -400s, but perhaps not noticeably so. same goes for the -700s relative to the -300s, and the -600s to the -500s. the key here is the next generation 737s have larger vertical stabilizers (read tails), and are slightly higher off the ground than the classics. not to mention they and look newer (some tell tale signs are to look for paint remains around the engines, doors, and also look at the build-up of brake dust/grease on the landing gears).
Trintocan From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2000, 3191 posts, RR: 4 Reply 10, posted (9 years 9 months 3 weeks 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 2301 times:
The easiest way to tell apart the Classics from NGs (apart from the tails) is to look at the pitot heads at the nose. The Classics have 2 pitot heads on each side set below the most aft window of the flightdeck while the NGs have 1 smaller head on each side below the second window.
Subtle differences in length, which tend to be discerned with practice, can distinguish 733 from 735, 736 from 73G and 738 from 739.
DeltaMD11 From United States of America, joined Dec 2002, 1698 posts, RR: 38 Reply 11, posted (9 years 9 months 3 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 2262 times:
UNB732-the 733/734/735's engines are all the same. CFM56-3's. How can they possibly look more/less funky?
Too often we ... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. - John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Chicago757 From United States of America, joined May 2003, 374 posts, RR: 1 Reply 12, posted (9 years 9 months 3 weeks 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 2195 times:
733 has one exit, the 735 is short and stubby, the 734 has 2 over wing exits and is just a slight bit longer than the -300
Thunder9 From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 216 posts, RR: 7 Reply 14, posted (9 years 9 months 3 weeks 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 2080 times:
A couple other minor differences between the 'Classiscs' and the NG 737's:
1) The NG series have landing lights under the fuselage at the front of the main gear wheel wells.
2) The NG series, due to the redesigned wing, has a different shape to the landing light lens in the leading edge of the wing root. The Classics have the old square shaped lens (ala 707), whereas the NG's have more of a teardrop shaped lens.
Does anyone know if the NG 73's still have the landing lights that extend downward from the outboard TE flap fairings? Can't recall if the NG's still have them there or not.
-J
"Keep thy airspeed up, less the earth come from below and smite thee." - William Kershner
USAir330 From United States of America, joined Mar 2002, 790 posts, RR: 1 Reply 15, posted (9 years 9 months 3 weeks 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 2053 times:
It took A while for me to be able to tell the diffrence but I learned LoL....
You can tell A 737-400 apart from A 300/500 because of the length of the fuselage... A 500 is not really that easy to tell apart from the 300 but after A while you notice the fuselage of the 500 is slightly shorter then the 300.
The way I tell A 737 Classic from A NG 737 is the way the engine is shaped...
QANTAS747-438 From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 1801 posts, RR: 2 Reply 16, posted (9 years 9 months 3 weeks 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 1993 times:
Also, the 733, 734, and 735 have a squared off fairing close to the fuselage as seen here:
Positive rate From Australia, joined Sep 2001, 2143 posts, RR: 1 Reply 17, posted (9 years 9 months 3 weeks 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 1987 times:
733 is easy to tell. It's very short and stubby.
734 is quite a bit longer than the 733 and stands out because of this
735 dunno, never seen one before but looks similar to a 733 from the photos
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