GRpr
Sorry if I unwittingly spoilt the direction of the discussion. I wasn’t privy to the original article and the use of the term weight in lieu of mass.
I guess weight could be used in a correct sense if the writer of the original question implied no shift in vertical displacement of the aircraft from the time the Geese were first considered until the time they left their collective perch.
Altitude will of course affect the cabin differential pressure and if the aircraft is at 30,000 feet with a cabin altitude of say 10,000 feet, then when compared with sea level cabin pressure, the payload (mass of air) has reduced. I wonder what the co-efficient of lift is for a goose and if the bird is able to take to the wing in such rarefied conditions. No doubt some wag will have a stab at that!
Stan Evil,
You did of course correctly raise the issue of Newton’s third law. My approach was to bypass the law and simplify the discussion by reference to the combined ‘fluid’ payload.
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dragchute
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