trevtt600

Hello all. A buddy and I are trying to figure out what qualifies as heavy jet time? I know that it is a weight, but not sure what it is. Thanks ahead of time.

Slice

300,000 lbs or greater MTOW .

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rickair7777

There are different definitions. For FAA certification purposes, a heavy aircraft is anything over 47,000# (or something like that)...so 50 seat RJ's qualify.

For ATC wake seperation, heavy is about what slice said (I thought it was over 255,000# but slice should know).

cessnapilot

300,000 pounds or 136,000 kilograms

fdx727pilot

Not so. This is off the FAA website:

Weight class is coded into three ordered levels: Small aircraft are those of
41,000 lbs. or less maximum certificated takeoff weight;
Large aircraft are those of more than 41,000 lbs. up to
255,000 lbs. maximum certifi cated takeoff weight; Heavy
aircraft are those capable of takeoff weights of more than
255,000 lbs. whether or not they are operating at this
weight during a particular phase of flight

L'il J.Seinfeld

300 is ICAO
255 is FAA.

KC-135E's are heavy when they leave the US but not when they get to INTL airspace. FWIW.

TOPDOG

You only wish an RJ was a "heavy".

dojetdriver

To ACTAULLY answer your question, it depends on the employer and what they define as "heavy jet" time. I belive the UAL scantron of old used a max GTOW of somewhere aroung 75,000 lbs and higher at some point to define something. Seems like somebody else in the late 90's/2000 era used 125,000 lbs as a cut off to qualify as heavy jet time on their application. What a particular employer uses to define as "heavy jet" to merit a certain experience level does not always coincide with the the FAA/ICAO use for traffic seperation purposes.

300,000 lbs USED to be the FAA's defintion of a heavy jet. Whether it was operating at that weight or not. Then when the wake turbulence research was comlpeted after some accidents involving the 757, it was lowered to the mid 250's.

RJ's are considered "large" aircraft.

Check 6

Not when you are sitting in one of those tiny seats on a 2+ hour flight!

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cessnapilot

by gosh... your right! I read 255,000 in my old employers FOM, but the AIM reference no longer gives a weight... I knew ICAO was 136,000 kilograms, but your response had me back into google... gotta love it.

as to the other poster, although different employers come up with different numbers on the applicaiton for heavy... if it doesn't specify, I think below is what I would go with...

FAA Order 7110.65, Air Traffic Control
AIRCRAFT WEIGHT CLASSES

a. Heavy. Aircraft capable of takeoff weights of more than 255,000 pounds whether or not they are operating at this weight during a particular phase of flight.

b. Large. Aircraft of more than 41,000 pounds, maximum certificated takeoff weight, up to 255,000 pounds.

c. Small. Aircraft of 41,000 pounds or less maximum certificated takeoff weight.