"Michael A. Burris" <yul@prodigy.net> wrote:
>Yikes! I'm a bit more than 180.7, can the airline deny
>someone boarding due to the fact that they are too
>heavy, even though they might fit in the seats?
Mike,
You might, if the aircraft reaches max permissible mass.
But then, an aircraft can carry an elephant, provided it can
take the load and the animal is properly restrained (No offence
intended to either Mike or the elephant).
The issue behind the weighing is quite serious. In order
to avoid weighing every single passenger, airlines are allowed
to use average weights. These numbers have te be reviewed
every now and again, to make sure that they are still valid.
People become bigger and heavier, and carry more stuff
around. The average pax mass was adjusted upwards in most
countries a decade or so ago. Quite a few aircraft then had
to be re-certified to slightly higher max takeoff weights,
in order to avoid leaving a passenger or two behind (the
Jetstream is one that comes to mind).
Using average pax weights is fine, as long as the passengers
really are an average part of the population and the numbers
involved are large enough to average out the differences.
For smaller aircraft, use of average pax weights is more
difficult to justify. That is why regulations establish a
minimum number. I do not have the time to look it up, but
I think it is around 10 or 12. If qou are a passenger on
a Cessna 402 or a BN Islander, it is not uncommon to ask
every single passenger to step on the scales.
If use of too low average pax weights turns out to be
a contributing factor in the Beech 1900 crash, I would
not be surprised to see higher numbers the smaller the
aircraft. The JAA already specifies higher pax weights
for aircraft with less than 20 seats, but I think the
FAA does not. Airlines of course always have the option
of weighing all occupants.
And if an airline knows that it is carrying a
non-average load (e.g. a sumo wrestler charter) it
cannot hide behind the use of an average pax weight either.
Kees de Lezenne Coulander
-- =
C.M. de Lezenne Coulander
Aircraft Development and Systems Engineering B.V.
Hoofddorp, The Netherlands
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