Why is there such a small weight limit on the plane you board? Surely nothing passengers can bring compares to the tons the plane weighs itself.
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Every bit of weight matters when it comes to fuel consumption. I remember reading about a Japanese airline asking its passengers to pee before boarding, as they estimated they could save something like 4 tons of C02 emissions every month.
To be more specific, what weight limits are you referring to? Individual bags, passengers, or something else entirely?
If you are asking about weight limits on luggage, it’s because luggage is manually loaded onto the plane by people, and heavy bags cause injury and strain to the hardworking people who have to pick up each bag and load them on and off of the plane.
Let’s say there are 250 passengers on a plane. Each of them brings on a 50 lb suitcase. That is 12,500 lbs. Now make it Two suitcases. That makes it 25,000 lbs. Now add a carry on of 25 lbs. They makes it 31,250 lbs in just luggage. Say the average person weighs 150 lbs. That’s like adding another 200 people onto the flight. And they still have to add the fuel to get the plane where it is going. It doesn’t take long for all that weight to add up and make a plane heavier than it is designed to fly somewhere.
This all being said though, the restrictions on weight for carry on or checked bags is more about the balance of the plane and the profits to be made per flight. Every extra pound makes the flight cost more in fuel. They have already budgeted to make so much money per person for a given weight. They could allow more weight but then they would have to charge more to make the same amount of profit.
Hold a 30 kg weight close to your body. Then, hold the same weight at arm’s length. Then, grab a 15 foot pole an lift the same weight using the only the very end of the handle. How easy is each one?
The plane is like the pole: the center of gravity is balanced wherever it is. Engineers give a range where the pilots can fly the plane with respect to the center of gravity. If the center of gravity is too far forward, the plane cannot rise. If it is too far aft, it cannot descend or level off. If it is more than the lift, it cannot take off.
Think of each passenger like a kilogram. 1 Kg isn’t that heavy. Neither is 2. But 30 is very noticeable.
The weight suspiciously matches the OSHA weight suggestion for the max weight an individual should repetitively lift.
Pilot here. There isn’t one simple answer to this question.
Every pound you add to an aircraft increases the distance it takes to get airborne, and increases the amount of runway required to come to a complete stop upon landing. If you continue to add weight, your takeoff/landing distances eventually become so large that they will exceed the amount of runway actually available (or in reality, exceed a safety margin).
Maximum takeoff weight is also a concern. Yes, an empty Boeing 737 may weigh 96,000lbs, but maybe it also needs 44,000 pounds of fuel for a long flight (140,000lbs total).
Add 160 people who each weigh an average of 190lbs (add 30,400lbs), plus 100 bags that weigh 50 lbs (add 5,000lbs for a total of 175,400lbs) and now you’re over the maximum total weight that that particular plane can safely lift (~174,000lbs).
Climb performance is also degraded by weight. Numerous popular airports in cities or near mountains can become unsafe to takeoff out of, because in the event that an engine fails immediately after takeoff, the aircraft will no longer be able to clear terrain or buildings by a safe margin.
Add to all of this, the complexities of balancing the Center of Gravity of the aircraft, maximum landing weights, reduced endurance, and many other factors.
Ultimately the weight of your baggage does have a significant impact on the aircraft and it’s performance.
It isn’t so much the weight of what each individual passenger brings, but the combined total of what all the passengers bring. Every pound more each person can bring amounts to a hundred or more pounds on the plane. The plane itself is designed to be as light as possible; yes, it is many tons for a large plane, but still as little as it can be. Planes are a lot lighter than you might expect from their size, for that very reason.
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