How do you know what plane your flying on?

Check with your flight itinerary on the airline’s website. If the type of aircraft isn’t listed on your boarding pass, near the flight number, look for a link to trip “details” and you’ll usually find the aircraft type there.

Do pilots fly the same plane everyday?

It’s also worth noting that although pilots don’t always fly the same plane, they only fly the ones they have the very specific training for. There is no way an airline would just rotate pilots around without them having the specific training and knowledge to safely fly those planes.

Can you track a plane by tail number?

FlightAware has added the ability to track an airliner by the registration number for many major airlines. Type in the registration (e.g., N487UA) and track that individual airplane, even if it flies as an airline flight identifier.

What happens during preflight prep?

During our preflight prep, we type the route of flight into the box. In many cases, routes are preprogrammed (or “canned”) and we can type a short route code to retrieve them; this saves us a bunch of typing on long routes. Enough preflight, it’s time to fly!

How does an airline dispatcher decide what route to take?

An airline dispatcher uses a computer to help analyze the weather and winds between the origin and destination. He or she then determines the most economic route using the airway system. For U.S. flights, this requested route is electronically sent to an FAA Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC)…

How does the FAA decide which route to choose?

He or she then determines the most economic route using the airway system. For U.S. flights, this requested route is electronically sent to an FAA Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) that analyzes the proposed route and compares it to thousands of other requests as well as traffic currently in the air.