You are absolutely correct Jed. Weight is a significant factor but just as much as balance. The smaller the aircraft, the more critical it becomes.
An aircraft with too much weight in the back might over-rotate on take off, stall and not make the fence at the end of the runway in one piece. Trim too far forward to compensate and the same effect will be achieved except this time you might just fly through the fence without rotating at all.
Pilots calculate a position known as V1 - the point at which they must be airborne beyond which they have no option to abandon the flight - they will go through the fence at the end of the runway! The AAIB reports are full of such instances.
But weight is not always a factor; only comfort.
The massive transporters used (usually) by the military such as the C130 Hercules and the Russian Antonov are real heavy weights and could probably cope with a shed load of 'fatties'. (sorry, weight challenged) :lol2:
However, being strapped in the cargo bay of a Herc is somewhat different to the relative comfort of an armrest up your crack on a standard passenger seat. At least in the Herc you might survive the flight!
Yes what I am saying is that airlines DO have to consider size and weight, the discussion started with the subject of airlines charging more for larger people, so both points are relative, as I said the volunteers believed that in order for them to enjoy the same facilities in flight as other passengers seats would have to be made bigger meaning less seats, toilets would have to be enlarged meaning less seats, aisles would have to be enlarged meaning less seats, less seats means less revenue.
Weight was a factor highlighted in the programme air crash investigation which whilst rare and not the only factor (there is rarely one factor when manmade disaster strikes) was one of the causes of that particular crash and with the increasing world obesity problem could be a bigger factor in future and one which cannot be ignored.
Yes airlines can distribute weight but from my experience of flying rarely do and there is a limit to how much passenger weight an aircraft can carry.
I also remember a Townsend Thoressen ferry where one factor of the capsizing was weight distribution when it turned out that all the heavy laden lorries were on one side of the ship, unladed lorries and cars on the other side, true the biggest factor was the fact that the ship sailed with the bow doors open but again disasters are caused by multiple factors.
Jed I'm still not sure what your point is.
You begin by agreeing that larger passengers should pay extra. I can see why and I totally agree with you.
You then appear to be advocating that airplanes crash because the airlines don't weigh their passengers. To support this you provide the following evidence:
1. A helicopter crash caused by a bird strike during the Falklands War.
2. An unnamed aircraft type that has supposedly crashed in Afghanistan.
3. You've partially quoted the Australian equivalent of the CAA and how it historically recommended weights should have been derived, but you've missed the part that says how aggregated weight should be calculated.
4. Another unnamed aircraft crash where weight was just one of many contributing factors.
5. an unnamed Channel 4 documentary about difficulties that larger people have in their day to day life, that while interesting, isn't really relevant as it only goes to highlight that a 32 stone man can't fit into a standard airline seat. To be honest I don't need to watch a documentary to work that out.
The reality is that aircraft design has moved on considerably in the past 100 years and the weight calculations are done by sensors and computers. There are considerable safety margins built into the algorithms to ensure that standardised maximum take off weights are not exceeded. Can you not accept that?
I hate airlines that discriminate according to size mainly because they do not charge any less for kids who weigh very little indeed and eat very little or not at all. (A child over 2 has to have his/her own seat and pays as much as an adult.)
What makes flights expensive, is not the cost of fuel but the cost of various taxes that they add onto the cost of flight - sometimes it is more than half. It is sickening that you have to pay airport taxes for some country's airport that was built years ago and has been repaid and then there is the security surcharge but nothing is changed security-wise, they just make our lives more difficult.
