I entered some aircraft weights into a Spreadsheet that I am sharing here. Download it and play around with it.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...ht%20data.xlsx
The weights may not all be exact, I got them off the internet. You can correct them yourself if you find correct figures.
When I found different versions of same aircraft (ie a high gross and a low gross, I entered the heavier of the two)
There are six columns:
Aircraft Type
OEW
ZFW
MTOW
Payload (ZFW - OEW)
Useful Load (MTOW - OEW)
When you first download the spreadsheet, the aircraft will be sorted by aircraft type.
By sorting the columns by Payload and Useful Load, aircraft of similar payload or of similar useful load can be compared as far as OEW. Its an interesting exercise.
For example the Boeing 787-8 has a payload (in my spreadsheet) of 43,222Kg, just 1 tonne over the L-1011-500 which had a payload of 42,010Kg. It has a useful load of 110,132Kg, while the L-1011-500 has 120,200Kg.
The B787-8 has an OEW of 117,798 while the L-1011-500 has 111,300.
So the mostly carbon 21st Century 787-8 is 6.5 tonnes heavier than a late 1960s era L-1011-500.
Compare an MD-11ER and a B777-200 which have similar payloads, and the MD11ER is lighter by 8 tonnes in OEW while having a useful load that is 47 tonnes greater.
Comments ?