Load Sheets
Reasons Why Aircraft Need Load sheets
1. An aircraft filled with passengers, baggage, cargo and fuel could be too heavy for the engines to lift it off the ground.
2. The balance of the aircraft is crucial, and the location of the passengers, baggage, cargo and fuel will affect the aircraft trim.
3. The undercarriage can only support a certain amount of weight on landing.
4. Loading too much weight into a particular part of the aircraft could cause damage to the structure. Whilst this might not be evident straight away it could over a period of time shorten the working life of the aircraft.
5. Fuel Savings The primary importance of exact load planning for an airline is legality and safety. However, efficiency of loading and unloading the aircraft are also very important to an airline’s ground operations. With today’s price of aviation fuel, the savings that can be provided through proper load planning and adherence to this load plan is extremely important to an airline’s operational costs. Successful airlines carefully calculate passenger, cargo and fuel weights to provide the most effective load plans which can reduce fuel burn en-route.
6. General points are to indicate special loads needing care during the journey and total number of passengers, crew cargo, mail, stores and the loading positions. During certain situations offloading of dead load can take place at transit point due to operational requirement and indication of nature of loads and positions can save time for a quick decision.