Airplane Design Groups

The FAA sorts aircraft into six Design Groups by wingspan and tail height, whichever lands in the higher group. Of the 364 types here, 250 fall in the same group by both measures and 114 are placed by their wingspan; tail height alone never sets the group in this file.

Limits from FAA AC 150/5300-13B, Table 1-2, and the types on this site
Group	Wingspan band	Tail band	Types	Median span	Median length
Group I	0 to <49 ft	0 to <20 ft	162	36.8 ft	28.2 ft
Group II	49 to <79 ft	20 to <30 ft	77	57.0 ft	55.3 ft
Group III	79 to <118 ft	30 to <45 ft	77	94.2 ft	103.9 ft
Group IV	118 to <171 ft	45 to <60 ft	20	146.4 ft	157.2 ft
Group V	171 to <214 ft	60 to <66 ft	23	197.8 ft	209.1 ft
Group VI	214 to <262 ft	66 to <80 ft	5	235.4 ft	238.6 ft

Groups V and VI share one page because Group VI holds five types.

Group pages

I
Types on the page: 162
II
Types on the page: 77
III
Types on the page: 77
IV
Types on the page: 20
V–VI
Types on the page: 28

Background: Airplane Design Groups I–VI explained and the 118-foot wingspan line.

Source: FAA Aircraft Characteristics Database, October 2024 release. How we measure.