Weight imbalance
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2002
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From: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Weight imbalance
Apologies if this is in the wrong forum...
I just got back from Palma with MyTravel (A320) in the early hours of this morning. Once we'd landed there was a delay in getting steps brought to the aircraft, the stewardess apologised and said "the airport was very busy with departing aircraft at the moment" (quite something considering it was NCL). A couple of minutes later after the stairs arrived, people began to leave the aircraft by the forward exit.
The Captain then came over the tannoy saying that due to the busyness of the airport, the bags had not yet been offloaded from the airplane, and requested that passengers move to the front of the aircraft as quickly as possible. He said they were worried about the weight imbalancing the plane.
Is it possible for the plane to become "imbalanced" and tip, especially considering the cargo was probably only people's holiday baggage? I was quite surprised to hear the Captains request...
I just got back from Palma with MyTravel (A320) in the early hours of this morning. Once we'd landed there was a delay in getting steps brought to the aircraft, the stewardess apologised and said "the airport was very busy with departing aircraft at the moment" (quite something considering it was NCL). A couple of minutes later after the stairs arrived, people began to leave the aircraft by the forward exit.
The Captain then came over the tannoy saying that due to the busyness of the airport, the bags had not yet been offloaded from the airplane, and requested that passengers move to the front of the aircraft as quickly as possible. He said they were worried about the weight imbalancing the plane.
Is it possible for the plane to become "imbalanced" and tip, especially considering the cargo was probably only people's holiday baggage? I was quite surprised to hear the Captains request...
Joined: Dec 2003
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From: England
Is it possible for the plane to become "imbalanced" and tip, especially considering the cargo was probably only people's holiday baggage?
I believe on British Airways A320's u r only allowed up to 2000kgs of weight in the rear holds with nothing in the front,
thats only about 160 bags at the standard charter weight of 13kgs per piece,
I dont know what standard loading is on the MYT A320's but if most of the bags are in the back then you have a load of passengers there as well and nothing in the front it could cause problems.
F.T.L
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 870
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From: UK
Dear 'susprised' of Newcastle,
Perfectly possible for the a/c to tip. The A321 (a stretched 320) in particular is vulnerable to sitting on its tail, which is why passengers are boarded via the front of the a/c first, and then through both front and rear doors.
As for the weight of bagage in the hold, it can be quite considerable - just as the weight of passengers is quite considerable. Think about it, 150 or so bags at about 20Kgs each, and 180 passengers at about 80kgs each as a rough example, and you have a load just over 17 tons. If that load is in the wrong place, or starts to move as it would when passengers get on/off the a/c, then that is a sizeable shift in the centre of gravity of the a/c and it only needs to move a fraction behind the main gear for the a/c to act like a giant seesaw.
I would suggest your captain was no fool, and indeed it was rather decent of him to explain the request. My only surprise is that the passengers complied - they normally seem to have extreme difficulty in following the simple instructions issued on arrival, like no smoking, no mobile phones etc...
Perfectly possible for the a/c to tip. The A321 (a stretched 320) in particular is vulnerable to sitting on its tail, which is why passengers are boarded via the front of the a/c first, and then through both front and rear doors.
As for the weight of bagage in the hold, it can be quite considerable - just as the weight of passengers is quite considerable. Think about it, 150 or so bags at about 20Kgs each, and 180 passengers at about 80kgs each as a rough example, and you have a load just over 17 tons. If that load is in the wrong place, or starts to move as it would when passengers get on/off the a/c, then that is a sizeable shift in the centre of gravity of the a/c and it only needs to move a fraction behind the main gear for the a/c to act like a giant seesaw.
I would suggest your captain was no fool, and indeed it was rather decent of him to explain the request. My only surprise is that the passengers complied - they normally seem to have extreme difficulty in following the simple instructions issued on arrival, like no smoking, no mobile phones etc...
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 301
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From: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Thanks FTL and witchdoctor, didn't realise the weight limit would be as low as that. I agree it was decent of the Captain to explain why we had to move forward. I presume the majority of the backage must have been in the rear hold.
Its not that I was so much "surprised" of Newcastle, more of the fact that it was so busy at 1am in the morning. As far as I could see there were only 4 departing charter flights, 1 of which would have been handled by Groundstar, so that only leaves 3 (at most) for Servisair to handle. This is why I was suprised there was a "shortage" of stairs.
Thanks for your responses.
Its not that I was so much "surprised" of Newcastle, more of the fact that it was so busy at 1am in the morning. As far as I could see there were only 4 departing charter flights, 1 of which would have been handled by Groundstar, so that only leaves 3 (at most) for Servisair to handle. This is why I was suprised there was a "shortage" of stairs.
Thanks for your responses.
Joined: Apr 2001
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From: Near Stalyvegas
jw,
"I just got back from Palma with MyTravel (A320) in the early hours of this morning."
Middle of the night=night roster=reduced staffing. Lack of drivers = lack of steps
It happens everywhere , not just at NCL.
As for weight, I was on a "split" flight [Manch-Brum-Malta-Brum-Manch]. On the Brum-Manch leg the pax were asked to sit in the first 10 rows "to balance the aeroplane"
watp,iktch
"I just got back from Palma with MyTravel (A320) in the early hours of this morning."
Middle of the night=night roster=reduced staffing. Lack of drivers = lack of steps
It happens everywhere , not just at NCL.
As for weight, I was on a "split" flight [Manch-Brum-Malta-Brum-Manch]. On the Brum-Manch leg the pax were asked to sit in the first 10 rows "to balance the aeroplane"
watp,iktch
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,205
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From: Europe
A small question about loading bags on a plane. Why any one would put bags only on the rear hold and not on the front one as well? I would think that it might save some time and effort since you drive all the carts to one place but then again how significant this is?
Rwy in Sight
Rwy in Sight
With MY reputation?
Joined: Dec 2003
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From: Not fussed, as long as it's "Child Friendly"
411A,
Agree with that, my training was designed for ground-based W+B staff under ideal circumstances, which admittedly did not take such performance degredation factors into consideration,
PHX
Agree with that, my training was designed for ground-based W+B staff under ideal circumstances, which admittedly did not take such performance degredation factors into consideration,
PHX
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 27
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From: UAE
Gentlemen,
Does anybody know the aft CG when an A320 will fall down onto the apron surface by it's tail part? I personally flying the 320 noticed that I don't know the exact data for this issue as the AIRBUS publishes TAKE-OFF, IN-FLIGHT and LANDING AFT CG limits only (at least in FCOM).
Maybe AIRBUS INDUSTRIE has this info somewhere else???
Thanks
Does anybody know the aft CG when an A320 will fall down onto the apron surface by it's tail part? I personally flying the 320 noticed that I don't know the exact data for this issue as the AIRBUS publishes TAKE-OFF, IN-FLIGHT and LANDING AFT CG limits only (at least in FCOM).
Maybe AIRBUS INDUSTRIE has this info somewhere else???
Thanks
