Originally Posted by
Chesty Morgan
Doesn't explain why they do it in the rest of the world.
When I flew on the e190, it was nice to know whether the aircraft 4NM in front of us on the localizer was a heavy or not, for both wake and runway occupancy after landing.
But outside of the US I rarely hear "heavy" being used that much, except maybe one in a while when checking in on tower, but again, that might help others building a mental picture.
And if course the Americans use it a lot also outside of the US, but they are used to it.