PlanesDB is a passion project - built by an aviation fan, for aviation fans. I wanted one place where you could look up any aircraft and find the specs, the history, the operators and the incident record together, properly sourced, instead of piecing it together across a dozen tabs. That's all this is meant to be.
It's early. The database covers a seed set of aircraft while I work through the catalogue, though it's built to scale to tens of thousands of entries without slowing down. Every civilian, military, cargo and experimental aircraft is fair game.
The aim is always for every number on here to be correct, though I would rather be straight with you and say that across a database of this size it is very hard to get to 100% on every single entry. Sources contradict each other far more often than you would think - manufacturers and operators quote different figures for the same aircraft, variants get mixed up with one another, and a number that has been repeated online for twenty years can still trace back to one typo somewhere. Some of that will slip through, and I would rather say so than pretend otherwise.
What I can promise is the order I go looking in. For specs and facts it is always the manufacturer's own page first, then the operator or air force's official fact sheet, and then reputable aviation press or regulator reports after that. Wikipedia is a great place to find those sources but it isn't the source itself. Every entry lists exactly what it was put together from over on its Sources tab, so please do go and check the working rather than taking my word for any of it.
If you do spot something that looks wrong, please just let me know - it is easily the most useful thing anyone can do for the site and I will always look at getting it corrected. There is a Contribute page if you would like to fix it yourself, or you can simply email me :)
Spot an aircraft missing from the database, or an error in an existing entry? PlanesDB's data lives in a public GitHub repository, so anyone can fix a typo, add sources, or submit a brand-new aircraft entry via pull request. Head over to the Contribute page for the full walkthrough.
Puzzled by a term like supercruise, service ceiling or MTOW? The full PlanesDB Glossary explains the aviation jargon used across the database in plain English - and spec tables link puzzling terms straight to it.
Questions, corrections or partnership enquiries: hello@planesdb.com
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The Terms of Service cover how you may use the database - the entries are published under CC BY-SA 4.0 so you are welcome to build on them with credit, though the photographs are each licensed separately by whoever took them.