In rec.aviation.piloting Larry Dighera <LDighera@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On 02 Nov 2007 17:57:55 GMT, Fujikawa Yamamoto <amm-j@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> wrote in <Xns99DC6F8BA4FB5789FAED@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>:
> >As Americans have grown heftier, 1960s-era assumptions regarding
> >passenger weight have become a concern to the aviation industry. In
> >2004, a turboprop of a Canadian commuter airline crashed into Lake
Erie,
> >killing all 10 aboard. According to the standard air passenger weight
> >tables used in the United States and Canada, the average weight of the
> >10 people aboard was 183 pounds -- the tables assume an average adult
> >male weight of 189 pounds and average adult female weight of 141
pounds.
> >Investigation showed the average actual weight of the people on the
> >plane was 240 pounds. That's 570 pounds unaccounted for in a plane with
> >a max takeoff weight of 8,000 pounds, and 7 percent missing from the
> >pilot's load and wind calculations are enough to upset a light
aircraft.
> >The smaller the aircraft, the higher the passengers' and bags' weight
as
> >a percentage of aircraft mass. For the cute little Eclipse 500, whose
> >max takeoff weight is 5,995 pounds, the passengers, pilots and baggage
> >easily could be 20 percent of aircraft weight, which is why the FAA
> >mandated use of passengers' actual weights.
> Weight and balance of aircraft is essential. It is often achieved by
> flying with empty seats or offloading fuel.
> It would only seem prudent for the air carrier to surcharge passengers
> for the ****tion their total load that exceeds the FAA specification.
> If passengers are sensitive about revealing their weight to flight
> personnel, they should either purchase enough additional seats so that
> there is no question of overloading, or suggest an reasonable
> alternative means of assuring their flight is conducted within the
> aircraft's performance envelope.
Simple; each passenger get issued a bar coded boarding pass, stands
on an electronic scale with no display holding all the carry on stuff,
and the W&B gets totaled by a computer.
All the stuff to do it is off the shelf and the code is trivial.
The non-trivial part is what to do when someone puts things out
of limits.
--
Jim Pennino
Remove .spam.sux to reply.
|
