Originally Posted by
Just This Once...
ARBS reduces the maximum pitch angle available.
So Airbus's solution to reduced ground pitch angle is to reduce MTOGW, thus preserving critical field length? Interesting. But this means that anytime the MRTT is operating from long runways where critical field length is not a factor, the airplane remains weight restricted. Seems like an odd trade to me. But hey, there's a number of things about Airbus design approaches I find odd, but are perfectly acceptable in normal service.
But wait. Voyager does not have ARBS. So if ARBS is why MTOGW is reduced, why is Voyager's MTOGW reduced? Something does not add up.