12 Emerging Trends - Aircraft Weight and Balance...

Emerging Trends & Balance Testing

12 December 2012

Emerging Trends - Aircraft Weight & Balance Testing

Author 1: Shubham Joshi, Business AnalystAuthor 2: Varun Kukreti, Sr. Test Engineer

• Overview of Weight & Balance

• Criticality of Load Planning

Agenda

• Criticality of Load Planning

• QA Challenges

• Case Study

• Weight & Balance Testing

• Conclusion

© InterGlobe Technologies Pvt. Ltd. 2011. Confidential: Not for Distribution. www.igt.in

Weight and Balance of AircraftWeight and Balance of Aircraft


Overview of Weight & Balance

Weight and Balance refers to weight and optimum way

the weight is balanced.

Few of the weights in reference to aircraft are:-

1

Weight and Balance

reference to aircraft are:-� Aircraft Weight

� Pantry Weight

� Fuel Weight

� Passenger Weight

� Passenger Baggage Weight

� Deadloads (Mail, Cargo)

3


Weight & Balance of aircraft

refers to the amount of weight

an aircraft carries and the way this weight is balanced in an

optimum way.

And there are many other weights which are

2


other weights which are considered during the

planning activity for

aircraft.

4

Importance of Weight & Balance

Balancing of an object is very important and when

it comes to Aircraft it bears more importance

as there is safety of

passengers at stake.

Improper balancing of load in aircraft can lead to:� Safety at stake

� Uncontrollable aircraft� Maneuverability

� Controllability� More fuel consumption

� Broken landing gears


passengers at stake. � Broken landing gears� Longer take off length

Importance of Weight & Balance

Improper balancing of load in aircraft can lead to:-Safety at stake

Uncontrollable aircraftManeuverabilityControllability

More fuel consumption

Broken landing gears



Broken landing gearsLonger take off length

Centre of Gravity


� The CG is the point at which the

total weight of the aircraft is assumed to

be concentrated

� CG must be located within specific

limits for safe flight.

� Balance control refers to the location

of the CG of an



of the CG of an

aircraft.Centre of gravity keeps changing as and when

the load is placed across the line.

Change in shift of CoGis seen when different

weight is places on one side of the beam.

Weights in Aircraft

Overview of Weight & BalanceOverview of Weight & Balance


Criticality of Load PlanningCriticality of Load Planning

© InterGlobe Technologies Pvt. Ltd. 2011. Confidential: Not for Distribution. www.igt.in© InterGlobe Technologies Pvt. Ltd. 2011. Confidential: Not for Distribution. www.igt.in

Result of Improper Load Planning

Picture shows imbalance during the unloading of the aircraft which

resulted in the tail heavy of the airplane. The aircraft was damaged

which resulted in the delay and penalty to the handling staff along

with the repair cost. Aircraft repair is not so easy because when the

aircraft parts are changed, the engineers need to provide the AHM

again

the affected/change area. The changes are then approved and

accepted by the General of Civil Aviations post which the aircraft is

ready for flights.

In this case, improper load planning resulted in the nose heavy of In this case, improper load planning resulted in the nose heavy of

the aircraft. Excessive load was placed in the front area of the

belly of the aircraft which made the plane fall from nose,

damaging the aircraft. This shows that not only aircraft balancing

is required for the safe journey but load balancing is also to be

taken care of while removing the loads from the aircraft.

Result of Improper Load Planning

Picture shows imbalance during the unloading of the aircraft which

resulted in the tail heavy of the airplane. The aircraft was damaged

which resulted in the delay and penalty to the handling staff along

with the repair cost. Aircraft repair is not so easy because when the

aircraft parts are changed, the engineers need to provide the AHM

in with the changed/updated indexes of the complete aircraft and

the affected/change area. The changes are then approved and

accepted by the General of Civil Aviations post which the aircraft is

ready for flights.


In this case, extensive load is placed in the tail area of the plane.

During the take off when pilot applied stab to uplift the airplane,

there is a huge imbalance due to heavy load placed at the rear

which resulted in the tail heavy of the aircraft and broken landing

gears leading to failure in the take off. Passenger safety was at

stake during this period as chances for fire and explosion were

seen.

QA Complexities

© InterGlobe Technologies Pvt. Ltd. 2011. Confidential: Not for Distribution. www.igt.in© InterGlobe Technologies Pvt. Ltd. 2011. Confidential: Not for Distribution. www.igt.in 10

12 Emerging Trends - Aircraft Weight and Balance...

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