Aircraft Weight Error: Impacts of Planned Real Errors

摘要

1. Most commercial passenger flights are planned with incorrect Zero Fuel Weight (ZFW) 1.1 Flights are planned several hours before departure 1.2 By departure time, no-shows, actual checked baggage, and belly cargo may be quite different from what was planned 2. Most passenger flights are planned with inaccurate passenger/payload weights 2.1 We don't weigh the passengers. We only estimate weight. 2.2 Different countries have different "standard weights". Are they realistic? 3. We are talking about two separate problems: one of planning weight and one of true weight? Do either of them matter? 3.1 The industry has long taken the approach that "the plane knows how much it weighs" 3.2 The laws of physics govern how much fuel the plane burns from what it truly weighs, in spite of how we planned it or what we thought it weighs.