Mid Morning Concurrent Sessions: Consumer Perceptions in Aviation: Presentation: Effect of Passenger Weight Under-Estimations on Regional Aircraft Performance for the Most Obese States in America

Background: Obesity, at epidemic levels across the USA, has ramifications for safe aircraft operations. Increased passenger weight degrades aircraft performance and may lead to a loss of control. Prescribed standard passenger weights for airlines are based on data compiled 15 years ago. The hypothesis herein is that passenger weight under-estimation for states with high obesity rates could potentially lead to a runway overrun or the inability to out climb rising terrain.

Methods: State-specific passenger weights for the ten most obese states based on ethnic group composition were calculated and the extent to which these measurements deviated from standard passenger weights was determined. Accelerate-stop distance, in the event of a rejected takeoff, and climb gradient were employed to assess performance degradation for regional aircraft with passenger weights corresponding to the ten most obese states. Poisson distributions were used for statistical analyses.

Results: Obesity rates across all ten states increased (p

Conclusion: Caution should be exercised in using standard passenger weights for states prone to obesity. Operators should be encouraged to implement a region-specific survey of passenger weights or utilize an onboard weight system. Due consideration should be given by the FAA to the assessment of obese state-specific passenger weights.