On a typical commercial jet, on any typical flight, there are some thin people and some heavier people. Some are traveling just for the day and are only taking along hand luggage and some are traveling for weeks with a number of large suitcases. Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration have done studies to determine the average weight of a passenger and their associated luggage. Over time, these averages have been adjusted to take into account that people may be slightly heavier than they were a generation ago. Based on the statistical average, safety margins have been calculated to account for deviations from the average. A flight crew can then determine how much additional cargo they can carry, and how much fuel will be needed to safely reach their destination.
This method works as long as there are enough passengers to achieve a good average. As the total number of passengers decrease, the safety margin must increase in order to take into account the small possibility that nearly all of the passengers are heavy and are bringing along heavy luggage. When the aircraft in question is a commuter plane, or an air taxi, there may only be seats for four to ten passengers. It quickly becomes apparent that large safety margins would be needed to avoid any possibility of the plane carrying too heavy a load. This results in significant losses for the airline, as they must carry extra fuel that will not be needed and lose the opportunity to carry cargo.
Therefore, many airlines have developed new policies where they use highly accurate platform scales to weigh each passenger, crew member and any luggage. This provides an exact real weight that can be used for fuel requirements and cargo capability.
These industrial scales must be designed with platforms that are large enough and rugged enough for even the largest passengers. Arlyn Scales offers a line of platform scales with capacities up to 1000 lb, and with very low profile platforms, providing easy access.
Arlyn Scales.com's goal is to provide clients with superiority in equipment and service unrivaled in the scale industry. For almost 30 years Arlyn has manufactured top of the line industrial weighing equipment with an accent on quality, accuracy, advanced technology and durability. From
Industrial Scales to
Platform Scales for Light Aircraft Contents and everything in between, Arlyn Scales has it all.
