Originally Posted by HarryMan
...Weight, weight, weight...
Honestly, weight is really not a problem these days on commercil aircraft when we are talking of a few pounds, seriously.
Think of just a crew putting on a few pounds each, let alone big blokes Vs small blokes, or the whole pax... or just a gallon or two extra fuel - honestly, things are NOT that critical that it would come into a design engineer's decision when safety is an issue.
...
Some pounds here plus some pounds there make up for two-digit tons in the end. I am sure, weight IS an issue in aviation. And it may even be an issue WHERE it is.