From newsmax.com:
Tuesday April 1, 2003 5 p.m. EST
FAA to Fliers: 'You're Too Fat!'
Look out, here comes more trouble for the airline industry, and possibly more hassles for travelers - and not the all-too-necessary security check type of hassles, either.
The Federal Aviation Administration allows each passenger on a small, commuter plane to weigh 185 pounds in the winter, including 20 pounds for carry-ons, and five pounds less in the summer, to account for the coats and heavy footwear people have shed.
However during a recent sampling of passengers, CommutAir of Plattsburgh, N.Y. found fliers with their massive carry-ons and bulging waistlines weighed an average of 216 pounds.
For a 19-passenger plane, that could put a flight over its weight limit by as much as 600 pounds.
Scenic Airlines, in a similar study, figured the average weight of a passenger rose about 18 pounds compared with the carrier's previous estimates.
With the recent crash in North Carolina of a small plane that was found to have been within a hundred pounds of it's max weight - 21 people died - and other accidents, including the one that killed pop star Aaliyah, the FAA is taking notice.
The Wall Street Journal writes: "Underestimating passenger weight doesn't necessarily compromise safety ... A 19-seat plane might fly safely even if it was overloaded by as much as 1,000 or even 1,500 pounds, provided the load was properly balanced.
"But combined with other mishaps or failures during flight, overloading could become a major factor in an accident, the airlines say."
In other words, a plane can be over weight, but nothing else can go wrong.
A 1999 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association put the average weight of American men at 187.2 pounds, and women at 151.3 pounds.
This would suggest that the FAA's weight rules have been wrong for years, and one official agrees.
David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, told the Journal, "Everyone just sort of knew that this whole assumed weight thing was ridiculous. When these weights are really analyzed, we're going to find that the weights used all along have been way, way off."
What does this mean, in practice, for the average traveler?
How about bumping passengers, pushing bags onto emptier planes, carrying less cargo, adding stops, implementing luggage surcharges to discourage heavy baggage, or higher ticket prices to compensate for the use of bigger planes?
All these hassles and more could be yours, if, the weight isn't right!
Tuesday April 1, 2003 5 p.m. EST
FAA to Fliers: 'You're Too Fat!'
Look out, here comes more trouble for the airline industry, and possibly more hassles for travelers - and not the all-too-necessary security check type of hassles, either.
The Federal Aviation Administration allows each passenger on a small, commuter plane to weigh 185 pounds in the winter, including 20 pounds for carry-ons, and five pounds less in the summer, to account for the coats and heavy footwear people have shed.
However during a recent sampling of passengers, CommutAir of Plattsburgh, N.Y. found fliers with their massive carry-ons and bulging waistlines weighed an average of 216 pounds.
For a 19-passenger plane, that could put a flight over its weight limit by as much as 600 pounds.
Scenic Airlines, in a similar study, figured the average weight of a passenger rose about 18 pounds compared with the carrier's previous estimates.
With the recent crash in North Carolina of a small plane that was found to have been within a hundred pounds of it's max weight - 21 people died - and other accidents, including the one that killed pop star Aaliyah, the FAA is taking notice.
The Wall Street Journal writes: "Underestimating passenger weight doesn't necessarily compromise safety ... A 19-seat plane might fly safely even if it was overloaded by as much as 1,000 or even 1,500 pounds, provided the load was properly balanced.
"But combined with other mishaps or failures during flight, overloading could become a major factor in an accident, the airlines say."
In other words, a plane can be over weight, but nothing else can go wrong.
A 1999 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association put the average weight of American men at 187.2 pounds, and women at 151.3 pounds.
This would suggest that the FAA's weight rules have been wrong for years, and one official agrees.
David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, told the Journal, "Everyone just sort of knew that this whole assumed weight thing was ridiculous. When these weights are really analyzed, we're going to find that the weights used all along have been way, way off."
What does this mean, in practice, for the average traveler?
How about bumping passengers, pushing bags onto emptier planes, carrying less cargo, adding stops, implementing luggage surcharges to discourage heavy baggage, or higher ticket prices to compensate for the use of bigger planes?
All these hassles and more could be yours, if, the weight isn't right!
