What is a Pilot Trading Card variant?

The same card, printed again

A variant is a later printing of the same card with something changed. The first printing is the original. The later one is the variant, and its card number usually gains a V: Delta's #64 has a variant, #64V.

Variants happen for ordinary reasons. A figure on the back was wrong and got corrected. The card was reprinted for a new year. The photo was swapped for another one. Collectors usually find them by putting two copies side by side.

What a variant is not

A different card that shares a number. Delta's #51 comes as several cards with different aircraft, and some of those numbers carry a letter too. They are separate cards, not variants: a variant is the same card printed again, never a different airplane. A V in the number is a hint, not a rule.

A card that came back in a new series. When the same airplane returns in a later set with a new number, that is a new card.

What usually changes

Across the variant families in PTC Binder, the differences follow a few patterns, and most of them are on the back.

• The photo. The most common difference by far: the same card with a different picture of the airplane, or of the airport.
• The year. A reprint for a new year, with the rest of the card the same or nearly so.
• A serial number. A number that changed from one printing to the next.
• A corrected figure. Wingspan, tail height, speed or range, fixed after the first printing.
• The closing line. The sentence at the bottom of the back, worded differently.
• A small detail. A corner, a drawing of the airplane, and once in a while the orientation of the whole card.

Often it is one of these. Sometimes it is several at once, and some are small enough that you only see them with both cards in your hands.

Where you will find them

Variants turn up most in the NAACS airport cards, Delta, United and Hawaiian, with a few from Tally Ho. Every one of them is in PTC Binder, marked.

How PTC Binder tells them apart

This is the part a list cannot do for you, so it lives in the app.

• A Variant marker. Variants carry a Variant pill in your binder, so you can see at a glance which card is the later printing.
• A side-by-side comparison. On the card, See variant details opens the original and the variant next to each other, with exactly what differs, front or back, and your own photos to compare against.
• The camera knows. Scan a card that has variants and PTC Binder tells you so: “They look almost identical. We'll show you what's different.”
• Filters. Show only the variants, or only the originals, in any binder.
• Filed it under the wrong one? Swap moves your photos, condition and details to the other version in one step, and you can swap them back anytime.

Why it matters

In a trade, the two versions are not the same card. Before you agree, settle which one it is, and check it against the card in hand.

A variant can be harder to find than its original, or easier. And PTC Binder lists each version as its own card, with its own place in the collection.