Overweight airplane question

[Maurice]

I was just watching an episode of "On the fly" which is about what goes on in airports when things go wrong and/or when passengers are inconvenienced by delays or whatever.

One of the incidents was when dispatch determined a plane (boeing 737) was 200 pounds overweight and they dictated that the extra weight had to come off. In the end, they agreed to let the plane take off but it would have to fly at a lower altitude and burn more fuel in the process in order to compensate for the extra weight.

I know that an airplane total weight is quite important but 200 pounds is a minute percentage of a fully loaded 737 especially considering they do not weigh passengers so total weight is never perfectly accurate anyway.

Would 200 extra pounds really be that critical? Hopefully a real pilot will answer my question

Thanks,
Maurice

[MLeavy737]

200 lbs is laughable really however...

When your talking airplane limitations its a hard line, there is no gray area according to Boeing and the FAA as you know.  Having said that there are many ways to fix a 200lb problem and one of them even a child can fix as long as you have em lol .  There called half weights. A quick half weight count by the FA's can usually get you that 200lbs easily.

If the airplane were 200lbs overweight for taxi then yes, it would have to come off somehow. We only get an advisory message on the release if the airplane is projected to be within 1000lbs of max landing weight at the destination. Basically saying watch it guys, you have the potential to land overweight.

The 200lbs in the movie seems a bit silly to me.  Basically it would have to come off if the airplane were not allowed to taxi and nothing else could be done like i described. If it were allowed to taxi the crew could burn it off and would be no big deal. Dispatch would never say you have to fly low to burn off that extra 200lbs. Any warning would be that 1000lbs notice like i said.

And lastly, look at the fuel flow on these things.. Depending on the model your talking 6-8000lbs/hr.  how long do you think 200lbs will take to burn off?

Mike L

[Maurice]

This wasn't a movie Mike. It was real life and the captain himself (Southwest airline) explained what he was asked to do by dispatch which was to fly at a lower altitude. Very strange indeed but true.

As you said, burning an extra 200 pounds of fuel before take off would not take very long and would likely be less wasteful than flying at a lower altitude. I'm glad I don't have to worry about being overweight in my sim 

Maurice