In Reply to: Dodgy weigh-ins posted by Spudzilla on Monday, 2. January 2006 at 17:15 Bali Time:
You are dead right when you say that some flights appear to be overloaded. An ICAO report released in the last couple of years, Can't remember the actual date, estimated that around 10% of all airline crashes involved overloaded aircraft. It is fairly easy to occur when you realise that before take-off, or landing, the pilot in command has to ensure that accurate speeds, runway distances available and all those little things that contribute towards safe flight are calculated and correct. This is done by taking into account such details as actual aircraft weight, temperature, wind speed and direction, etc. Weight is one of the most important factors in these calculationsand is arrived at by combining the empty weight of the aircraft with the weight of fuel, cargo, passengers, baggage in the hold and a number of lesser items. Passenger weights are actually based on predetermined average weights as is cabin baggage which is assumed to be a max of 7.5 Kilos. If everybody on a large aircraft took just a few kilo more with them into the cabin and their average weights were in excess of the calculated averages it is easy to see that the aircraft could be a few thousand kilos over calculated figures and this could, and sometimes does, have an effect on take-off and landing performance. Just looking at the cabin baggage factor, alone, you can quickly see that those amongst us who advocate taking as much as they can get away with into the cabin with them are either very misinformed as to the possible consequences of their actions or, worse, a tad irresponsible.
Cheers
Maverick