Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Aircraft

WikiProject Aircraft talk — Archives

Hello,

I recently proposed removing several civilian aircraft from the vital articles project. Aircraft are generally over represented compared to other forms of transportation, so the goal is to trim the list a bit. I figured there might be several interested editors here, so posting the link Wikipedia talk:Vital articles/Level/5/STEM#Remove_several_civilian_aircraft. GeogSage ^{(⚔Chat?⚔)} 21:27, 19 January 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

Frequently I would run into aircraft images against a blue sky where the caption mentions both the airport (despite neither the airport nor the surroundings being visible in the image), and the month of the year it was taken (despite, IMO, the month usually not being particularly relevant).

For example, the Boeing 737 article captions generally include the airport the photo was taken at and the month and year.

Is the airport location worth mentioning in the caption if the picture is merely against a blue sky, and doesn't show the airport or the surroundings?

Is including the month usually relevant? For example, does knowing that the picture is from January 2021 versus say, November 2021 really make a huge difference to the reader to be worth mentioning instead of just mentioning the year (2021)?

There's a balance between MOS:CAPSUCCINCT (encouraging succinct captions) and MOS:CAPCONTEXT (encouraging giving some context to what isn't visible in the picture) that should be struck here.

Right now, I lean towards not mentioning the airport if it or the surroundings are not visible in the picture, and against mentioning the month unless it's notable (for example, month of introduction into service, or so on). For example, the above caption could instead be:

On the other hand, the location *might* be interesting just to see all the places a particular aircraft flies. I can't really think of a good reason to give the month most of the time though.

Anyone else have any thoughts? 4300streetcar (talk) 05:59, 7 February 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

I'd honestly say in cases of "against nothing but a blue sky" the month is better than the location, since the location is irrelevant in that case but the month could be relevant if the aircraft was repainted (rewrapped? Do they wrap aircraft these days?) at some point during the year. - The Bushranger _{One ping only} 01:13, 8 February 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

• The date/month might be relevant if it was aircraft's initial delivery or entering service. But yes, month/date and location don't mean that much usually. -Fnlayson (talk) 01:30, 8 February 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

  Concur that the month is generally irrelevant. Most readers aren't going to know, much less care, what month a livery changed on a particular aircraft. Let's leave details like that to the image page itself. People who care know to look there. BilCat (talk) 04:21, 8 February 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

Well United has been using 2 different liveries nowadays so I can understand if the month isn't relevant to modern day pics like Delta or anything but if it is modern day United pics or pre merger continental pics then months should be said so that way readers aren't confused as to what is what since it is the same thing but with different names one current one defunct with one paint scheme. Gymrat16 (talk) 02:10, 20 February 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

• That makes sense. Mentioning the livery for the spring/fall (or other season) in the caption seems fine if it is explained a bit for relevance. -Fnlayson (talk) 02:17, 20 February 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

  Ok that makes a bit more sense now and simply the location if a terminal or city is in the background too i feel like. I can understand about that delta pic above since it is in the sky but those that have stuff in the background should be expressing their locations in my mind Gymrat16 (talk) 02:42, 20 February 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

Agree that putting the place where the photo was taken, when all you can see in the background is sky, is useless and pedantic. Same for the month in most cases, apart from few already mentioned circumstances (plus e.g. if the example pictured was involved in an accident a few months later). --Deeday-UK (talk) 14:37, 21 February 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

For sure. If it is in the sky with nothing in the background but clouds it's unnecessary but if it is on the ground or just short of the ground and has buildings in the background or if it is an incident that is being described then it is necessary. Gymrat16 (talk) 15:24, 21 February 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

See Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Blue Thunder (helicopter) (2nd nomination) and Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Airwolf (helicopter) (2nd nomination). BilCat (talk) 02:12, 9 February 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

There is a requested move discussion at Talk:DC-10 Air Tanker#Requested move 29 January 2025 that may be of interest to members of this WikiProject. Aviationwikiflight (talk) 14:42, 16 February 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

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