In airline communications, where is the suffix Heavy placed?

• A. After the flight number
• B. Before the call sign
• C. At the very end of the message
• D. Before the airline name

Answer: (A)

In airline communications, a suffix like Heavy is added to the aircraft’s call sign to warn others about wake turbulence. It is placed right after the flight identification, which is the airline designator plus the flight number. So you’d say the call sign plus Heavy, as in Delta 123 Heavy. This placement makes the information immediately clear to ATC and other pilots.

Placing it before the call sign or at the very end would blur the identification people rely on to recognize the aircraft, and would not reflect standard phraseology. It’s also not placed before the airline name, since the identification begins with the call sign and flight number, not the airline name.