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So operator (TUI) mis calculate estimated weight. Clearly nothing to do with the aircraft.
by midasuni 6y ago
So operator (TUI) mis calculate estimated weight. Clearly nothing to do with the aircraft.
- nimbius 6y agoor is that..Ms calculate?
- saargrin 6y agois there a hackernews gold i can give you?
- pbrb 6y agoLOL, I choked on my breakfast laughing at this.
- _Microft 6y agoFun fact: SpaceX had two marine vessels for recovering rocket payload fairings from the sea. One was called Ms. Tree, the other one Ms. Chief. They are being replaced by a new boat right now, so let's see if they come up with another funny name for her as well.
- krallja 6y agoMy mother was on a softball team in medical school named Ms. Diagnosis.
- Zagitta 6y agoOne could say they miss-calculated :^)
- richardwhiuk 6y agoStruggling to work out the impact - no damage, and no injuries, and safe operation of the aircraft wasn't caused. Surprised this classifies as a serious incident.
- tyingq 6y agoFlawed weight and balance procedure, so a "nothing bad happened" situation, but "something bad could have happened". So serious in the sense that changes needed to be made to avoid a real issue in the future.
- midasuni 6y agoI’m surprised that estimated weight is used at all - surely the plane knows the actual takeoff weight, wouldn’t that be the number that’s checked before taxiing starts? Same with actual weight distribution
- jjk166 6y agoHow would the plane know it's weight? You could measure the forces on the landing gear, but that would be subject to huge errors (inflation of the tires, stresses from the hydraulics, etc.), much higher than the 1% error required to notice this discrepancy. They do have checks in place, which is how they noticed the issue, but it still comes from keeping track of what goes on the plane. > As part of the prestart procedure, the flight crew reviewed the flight plan, which gave an expected takeoff weight (TOW) of 66,495 kg (Figure 1), and the load sheet, which gave a TOW of 64,889 kg (Figure 2). They noticed that there was a discrepancy, with the load sheet showing 1,606 kg less than the flight plan. They noted that the number of children shown on the load sheet was higher than expected, at 65, compared to the 29 which were expected on the flight plan. The commander recalled thinking that the number was high but plausible; he had experienced changing loads on the run-up to the temporary grounding as passengers cancelled and altered trips at short notice.
- midasuni 6y agoI guessed the force on the landing gear would be able to be measured - Pressure in suspension perhaps.
- pwg 6y agoThe ground crew needs a good enough weight estimate to determine the proper fuel to add to the tanks, and to plan out the cargo distribution in the cargo hold so they can overlap that work (loading fuel, loading cargo) with the actual passenger boarding of the plane to save wait time for both passengers and the airline.
- tyingq 6y agoAlso, 737-800, not a MAX. Occured 21 July 2020. And... "Whilst an incorrect takeoff weight was used for aircraft performance planning, the thrust required for the actual TOW and environmental conditions (88.2% N1) was marginally less than the thrust used for the takeoff (88.3% N1). This meant the safe operation of the aircraft was not compromised." So it was a "something bad could have happened" situation that called for a change in procedure to avoid a future, real problem.
- ploika 6y agoI don't think anyone is confusing a 737 with a 737 Max. The issue here is that bad check-in software caused a serious incident.
- sidlls 6y agoIt certainly did have something to do with the aircraft. The weight distribution in the aircraft is actually quite important, and a badly distributed weight can cause instability and a crash. These kinds of reports aren't meant to isolate a cause for the assignment of blame. They are meant to provide comprehensive information about the incidents, including identification of the root causes and the remedies for them.
- anonu 6y agounder-estimate weight -> under-estimate fuel -> fuel exhaustion -> crash While my armchair opinion is that ~1500kg mis-calculation of payload on a Boeing 737 is minor - this is one of those problems you should treat pretty seriously as it might have repercussions on other flights.
- seoaeu 6y agoYeah, they intentionally include a safety margin in the amount of fuel to bring. Doesn't make it OK just to miscalculate the payload weight and assume the margin will save you.