My flight just announced that it will be pretty empty, and that it is important for everyone to sit in their assigned seats to keep the weight balanced. What would happen if everyone, on a full flight, moved to one side of the plane?

Question

My flight just announced that it will be pretty empty, and that it is important for everyone to sit in their assigned seats to keep the weight balanced. What would happen if everyone, on a full flight, moved to one side of the plane?

In: 8623

Answer 1

Side to side, nothing at all. You can only be a step or two off center.

Front to back is a different matter. If everyone is at the front or back of the plane, the elevator control is used to raise or lower the nose to keep it level. That’s normally no problem. But there are limits. The center of gravity needs to be within those limits or it is possible for the plane to become uncontrollable when the elevator is no longer enough to keep it level.