"heavy" callsign

jaronamo77 · Post by **jaronamo77** » 03 Feb 2008, 01:15

What's the basic rule for designating an aircraft a "heavy" aircraft? This is something I've been wanting to ask for awhile, and I'm sure it's a very noobish question.

Northwestdc9 · Post by **Northwestdc9** » 03 Feb 2008, 01:45

Heavy is used when the aircraft's gross weight is over 255,000lbs.

All widebodies are heavies as far as I know.

Yaroslav · Post by **Yaroslav** » 03 Feb 2008, 01:50

I think it goes as following: light = less than 7 tons (15,500 lb), medium = between 7 and 136 tons, heavy = higher than 136 tons (300,000 lb).
Source: IVAO.

jaronamo77 · Post by **jaronamo77** » 03 Feb 2008, 02:31

Alright, thanks. Wanted to check before I took my first flight in the 757, which can go either way if I remember correctly.

Samuel Arnold · Post by **Samuel Arnold** » 03 Feb 2008, 02:45

The 757 can't go either way, but usually if you are flying a US airline, then it's heavy.
Outside the US, it's not a heavy.

Northwestdc9 · Post by **Northwestdc9** » 03 Feb 2008, 03:03

The 757 technically isn't a heavy however it depends on the model. There are some upgraded MTOW 757s and the 757-300s.

I keep things simple and when I fly the 757s, the -200 isn't a heavy while the -300 is.

Post by **Aaron Robinson** » 03 Feb 2008, 05:22

Wasn't there a topic on this recently? I did a search but couldn't find anything...

NWADC9 · Post by **NWADC9** » 03 Feb 2008, 05:23

The 757 has an awesome wake that sometimes ATC will call 'em heavy just for spacing.

Oh, and for future reference, the A3UGLY is a Super-not a Heavy

Aaron Robinson wrote:Wasn't there a topic on this recently? I did a search but couldn't find anything...

Search function seems to only work on posts made after the new boards came on the scene.

Northwestdc9 · Post by **Northwestdc9** » 03 Feb 2008, 05:54

There was but I can't find it either.

From what I hear the 757 is more commonly just given a wake caution " cleared to land, 22L following 757 3 miles ahead caution wake... "

Samuel Arnold · Post by **Samuel Arnold** » 03 Feb 2008, 08:13

NWADC9 wrote:Oh, and for future reference, the A3UGLY is a Super-not a Heavy

Are you serious ?
Sarcasm has it's limits you know.

Dennis · Post by **Dennis** » 03 Feb 2008, 12:57

That's weird. Even ATC sometimes gives the 757 a heavy designation. Regardless of that, I go either way (it's both a heavy, and a not a heavy).

Sure is bad that FS doesn't have the Superheavy designation. That would've made my A380 flights more realistic.

NWADC9 · Post by **NWADC9** » 03 Feb 2008, 13:45

Samuel Arnold wrote:
NWADC9 wrote:Oh, and for future reference, the A3UGLY is a Super-not a Heavy
Are you serious ?
Sarcasm has it's limits you know.

No joke-it's truely Super.

RatherBFlyin · Post by **RatherBFlyin** » 03 Feb 2008, 17:55

The cutoff for the "heavy" designation is if the MTOW for the aircraft is 255,000 pounds or more (I actually believe it is "greater than 255,000," but I'm not going to quibble over one pound). This is based on the aircraft's certification, and not their actual weight at the time. The problem with the 757 is that some aircraft are certified with a MTOW below 255,000, and other models are certified higher.

The 757-200 is certified at 220,000 or 240,000 pounds. However, the 757-200ER model is either 255,000 or 255,550 pounds, making that model a Heavy.

The 757-300 is certified at 270,000 pounds, putting it squarely in the Heavy category.

And yes, there was a discussion about this some time ago, but I'm not sure exactly where it was.

jaronamo77 · Post by **jaronamo77** » 04 Feb 2008, 05:13

Ok, nice to know. I just remember ATC calling some 757's heavies and some normal, so I just wanted to clear it up before I started flying the thing, for realism's sake

Samuel Arnold · Post by **Samuel Arnold** » 04 Feb 2008, 10:20

NWADC9 wrote:
Samuel Arnold wrote:
NWADC9 wrote:Oh, and for future reference, the A3UGLY is a Super-not a Heavy
Are you serious ?
Sarcasm has it's limits you know.
No joke-it's truely Super.

Oh my gawd

Such a bump to me. LOL

BOKITO · Post by **BOKITO** » 07 Oct 2008, 23:17

Mechanic in education speaking here.

The 757 has a heavy callsign. The heavy on the callsign is made because of the turbulence behind the aircraft. On heavier aircrafts, there is more turbulence than on lighter aircrafts so planes behind them need to take more distance. There is an exeption for the 757, in reality they seem to cause more turbulence, even if they are below "that-number" of pounds. And I believe, but I'm not sure, that 757's with winglets don't need the heavy callsign.

COA413 · Post by **COA413** » 08 Oct 2008, 01:19

I thought that regular configured 752s didn't have the heavy, while 757s reconfigured to have a higher TOW required the "heavy" call sign. Also, I thought all 753s used the call sign.

Northwestdc9 · Post by **Northwestdc9** » 08 Oct 2008, 03:20

Technically that's exactly right.

The actual practice is going to vary from airline to airline.

RatherBFlyin · Post by **RatherBFlyin** » 08 Oct 2008, 03:56

There has apparently been some question about whether or not any 757's should be classified as "Heavy" aircraft for wake turbulence separation purposes.

http://pdf.aiaa.org/preview/CDReadyMASM ... 07_288.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Unfortunately that is just the first page of the paper, and I have been unsuccessful at turning up the rest of it. If anyone else has any better luck, I'd love to be able to read the entire paper.

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