2006-08-31 03:31:32 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Cars & Transportation ➔ Aircraft
Since the passengers are very close to the centerline of the aircraft, moving them to one side will have much less impact than moving all the fuel to one wing would, for example.
The crew do a weight and balance sheet prior to takeoff and many modern airliners base the calculations on the actual weight of the aircraft as measured by sensor equipment in the landing gear. If they are out of limits, the Captain will direct the cabin crew to relocate the passengers.
It's much more likely to have a fore-aft imbalance than a side-to-side imbalance. The distance from the center of rotation has a significant impact on the balance calculations and all passengers are with a few feet of the aircraft's roll axis so moving from one side of the cabin only minimally affects aircraft balance.
2006-08-31 03:48:29 · answer #1 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
One side may not be a problem if the fuel load is on the other side. Too many at front or rear would make a bigger difference. All aircraft have a weight & balance sheet which dictates proper loading. If there is a very heavy load at the rear of the cargo hold, the Pilot would load more passengers to the front to balance it out. Same with heavy fuel load on one side, move the passengers to the other side.
2006-08-31 03:39:38 · answer #2 · answered by colglennlarson 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Passengers seated in the front vs. back would have more impact than a side to side differential. Also, jet fuel weighs about 6 pounds per gallon and a 757 can hold 11,500 gallons or 69,000 pounds of fuel, so the flying characteristics are not altered much by a 150lb person moving from one side of the jet to another.
2006-08-31 04:22:28 · answer #3 · answered by PriJet 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's unlikely ever to happen but side to side would be pretty unlikely to be an issue on an airliner.
What *might* be an issue would be if all the passenger were at the front ( or back ) . This could upset the trim of the aircraft.
2006-08-31 03:58:50 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
On small ones the passengers rr evenly spread, but in large ones tis not a problem. Also b4 takeoff the pilot can do final balance corrections by changing the amount of fuel in each wing.
2006-09-04 00:17:24 · answer #5 · answered by Fadhl 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Side to side does not make much difference due to being so close to the center of the A/c. Now front to back can make a difference. Even on large airplanes like the 737 or even larger, you may have to move people around for takeoff and landing to keep it in balance.
2006-08-31 11:47:43 · answer #6 · answered by Doc Savage 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
On small aircraft, (like a 30 passenger plane) they DO level out the people on the plane. On the big ones, it doesn't make a difference. The weight of the plane, the fuel, the baggage must level it out well enough.
2006-08-31 03:46:50 · answer #7 · answered by words_smith_4u 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know how much imbalance a commericial airliner can handle, but, yes, there is a limit to how many people can sit on one side. I just don't know how sensitive it is. Good question.
2006-08-31 03:38:44 · answer #8 · answered by retiredslashescaped1 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If there were a side-to-side imbalance, the pilot would crank in a bit of rudder trim to compensate for it.
2006-09-01 18:01:07 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is safe but not recommended because the airplane want to offset the imbalance and cause consuming more fuel.
2006-08-31 04:03:10 · answer #10 · answered by Green dot 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋