Week 18: Under-performance is not acceptable!

This week we attempted to complete performance, as well as starting (and finishing) mass and balance. Unfortunately we didnt manage to finish performance; we covered pretty well all of the theory, however ran out of time going through the Performance manual so will need to find a few hours one evening this week. Ordinarily we could be trusted to cover study in our own time, but the manual (known as CAP 698) is allowed in the exam and a significant number of the answers can be found within. Therefore, if we learn it to a good standard we'll avoid the blind panic of not knowing where to find something!

As for Mass and balance, this is a subject that we will see every single working day, as the aircraft needs to be loaded correctly to prevent this sort of thing....

Simply put, this was likely caused by the load being incorrectly placed (ie. too much heavy stuff at the back), or could have been something as simple as the cargo being loaded/removed in the wrong order. The reason this has significance for flight crew is an incorrectly loaded aircraft can be difficult or even impossible to fly safely. This was unfortunately what happened to the below Boeing 747, which suffered a significant load shift as it made its initial climb; the load went towards the tail, the centre of gravity shifted and within seconds the outcome was unavoidable. For those questioning my morals for posting this, the most important part of aviation safety is prevention. Therefore the more of you that know about this who go on to fly, the less chance there is of it happening again!!

If i've scared any of you to the extent you now don't want to hop on a flight to go on hols, calm down! Passenger flights are loaded in a manner that prevents such load shifts because the seats are bolted to the structure, and you're strapped into them. Therefore, unless the entire aircraft population as one decides they all need the toilet and only the one at the rear will suffice, you're pretty safe! You may think the guys on the tarmac are randomly lobbing your precious Louis Vuitton at whatever space they spot, but the number of bags in each section is carefully calculated. So the next time you fly and the cabin crew effectively force all the passengers into specific seats rather than spreading about the cabin, you'll know why!