Originally Posted by
megan
Aerial, you might just check your dictionary, you'll find it refers to "planes" as aircraft, among many other things. Term was used as far back as 1920 by professionals in the industry. The US Navy have "Plane Captains", Crew Chiefs by name in the Air Force.
I'm sure you are correct but I still think it sounds amateurish - in thirty years in the industry I never heard anyone call an aeroplane a 'plane except outside the industry... except for one operator (VA) where many also refer to multiple aircraft as 'aircrafts' which definitely is incorrect. As for the US Navy, that may be the case but I've never heard an aviation professional or airline person of any experience in the US call them anything but an 'airplane'. To me, a 'plane' is something you fashion wood with and if it is a shortening of airplane or aeroplane, shouldn't it have an apostrophe at the beginning i.e. 'plane.