FAA Standard Weights
"The cited FAA AC standard weights are, I suggest, significantly out of date and current analyses would suggest that they need to go up a bit ... my comment is based on studies done in Australia some time ago and presume that the US and Australian populations are sufficiently similar in the extent of obesity to draw such a conclusion."
These latest FAA weights were promulgated in 2004 after the crash of a commuter aircraft (a B1900 in Charlotte I believe) which was legal on paper but overloaded. In regulatory terms, very up to date. It is, I believe, indicative of the FAA's complicity with the Airlines to keep the figures low and therefore aircraft more profitable. For the FAA and the airlines its a risk they see as worth taking. Afterall, how many engine failures are there in operations with an approved averaged weight weight&balance program? How many of those happen at/near V1? How many of those were at/near gross weight?
Aircraft with technology like the A320 family shows these programs for what they are, smoke and mirrors. I have over 10 years/7,000 hours on the A320 and I check my FAC calculated weight against the load sheet on almost every leg. On empty legs where no weight averages are used (other than the 2 pilots) the weights are within a couple of hundred pounds. In regular operations I'd say 5 to 10% of the time the weights are within 1% of each other. 90% of the time the FAC calculated is 2500 lbs more than the load sheet.
Now, is the FAC calculated weight 100% correct/accurate. I'd say not. But bearing in mind it very close to accurate when the aircraft weight is known (near empty) I'd say it is more accurate than the load sheet. I know that the aircraft performance more closely matches the FAC weight than the calculated weight.
Bottom line I suppose, is be aware.