Posted on 02/07/2024 12:23:18 PM PST by dennisw
All eight passengers were weighed on an island hopper flight we once took.
Ignoring weight distribution and balance causes many small plane crashes. The math is the same for big planes and there are a lot of overweight people these days. You don’t want to be a on plane full of folks going to a weightwatcher’s convention.
In the early days of my residency in Pocatello, I flew out of the Pokey airport frequently. Service was provided with an Embraer turbo-prop aircraft. We often had last minute shuffles of seating positions to dial in the weight and balance. Typically final changes occurred after the last of the luggage was loaded in the rear compartment. A few large travelers were relocated forward.
The most equitable approach to charging for air travel is a weigh-in of the passenger and luggage. That gives a neutral figure for the "cargo" to be transported. Seat assignments by algorithmic weight and balance also makes sense from an operator's point of view. It wipes out the notion of first class, business class and coach.
We used to have to do that to fly in my ex boyfriend’s 4 seat Mooney. Not a commercial airliner. 😆
Only pilots and aviation engineers seem to know that a plane has to be balanced fore-and-aft or it can become uncontrollable.
I’m very worried about who my seat mates are.
= = =
Be careful.
We do not need any seat-mating going on.
We do not need any seat-mating going on.
Not until your altitude is above a mile.
That’s why the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crashed, IIRC. Heavy load and over-fueled for distance because gas was cheap at the departure airport.
Don’t load all of the anvils in the tail section!
Jus’ sayin!
New way to virtue signal?
Or ray-cissim by another name?
When flying between Maui and Molokai once everyone and all luggage had to be weighed. My ex had to decide whether I or his golf clubs would be on the flight with him. He chose well, and the golf clubs showed up the next day.
A story that was out sometime in recent weeks told of a very nice “plus size” passenger on an airline who paid for two tickets, for himself, to have two seats next to each other, for his comfort and to not burden a passenger next to him.
He was a nice guy, but not every over size person can afford to do that.
“That’s why the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crashed, IIRC. Heavy load and over-fueled for distance because gas was cheap at the departure airport.”
I read a story recently that claimed that Lynyrd Skynyrd’s plane ran out of fuel?
They need to get rid of the voluntary status. Weight and balance is critical for safe aircraft operation. EVERYTHING that goes on an airplane needs to be weighed.
Just like a COD flight to the CVN back in the day.
It always been an option to weigh individual passengers.
The FAA publishes ‘standard’ weights for passengers, men, women, children (incl. summer dress vs winter dress) and baggage, and that’s what they traditionally have used because it was easier & faster. Because you can’t just weigh Haystack Calhoun and give Twiggy a pass, if one gets weighed they all get weighed, which is more time-consuming and will make some passengers (esp. lard-asses, & most especially wimmen) peevish.
So the airlines historically are very resistant to weighing pax.
“I read a story recently that claimed that Lynyrd Skynyrd’s plane ran out of fuel?”
I read somewhere it was over-fueled and too heavy but you are right, every account I’m seeing says they ran out of fuel. Maybe the refuel story is that they were trying to fly into that airport close to empty and refuel there because the gas was cheap. That would make sense.
How the hell do you fly a plane right out of fuel?
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