Overweight Load Detection - Remotely ?

[aseanaero]

The problem : Imagine you are responsible for the safe and profitable operation of a couple of turboprop freighters (5 tonne capacity) operating in an area (about 5,000kms from head office) known for off the books 'cash and carry' operations involving ALL out-station staff of most of the operators in that area (ground crew and air crew) for carrying freight over and above what's on the manifest frequently into a dangerous overload situation, how do you detect this from operational stats ?

There have been a number of fatal accidents by other operators in this area where being overweight (plus bad weather or engine failures) were factors and there is also the economic issues (maintenance) as the aircraft are being pushed to perform overweight.

Assume that whatever load program or checks and balances that you put in place will be worked around by on-site local staff (eventually).

The only easy and workable solution I can see to detect this at a high level from operational statistics is analysing fuel burn per run as a heavier aircraft will burn more fuel for the same mission (and the 'guys' probably wouldn't go to the lengths of topping the tanks up with fuel at their own expense).

OK, there are variables like weather , taxying , holding etc but which would give a range of fuel burns for the same mission but they should fall within a range of plus or minus X% for an aircraft being operated within accordance with the POH.

An aircraft which is say 20% overweight should show up as an anomaly with a much higher fuel burn. Correct ?

The operator will probably have to hire an expat as an on-site ops manager to make sure things are kept legal , safe and without abusing the aircraft. Looking for ideas how we can build some checks into the ops statistics also.

Thanks