Airlines Ordered to Survey Weight on Small Planes

Airlines that fly small commuter planes will have to conduct surveys of their passengers’ body weight -- and may put some people on scales -- under an order issued Monday by government safety officials.

The Federal Aviation Administration directive comes after the crash of U.S. Airways Express Flight 5481 this month in Charlotte, N.C. All 21 people aboard the Beech 1900D turboprop were killed.

Investigators are focusing on whether the plane was overloaded, whether the passengers and luggage were properly distributed and whether controls called elevators that determine the up-and-down pitch of the plane’s nose worked properly. No conclusions have been reached.

Airlines currently use approved estimates of the weight of passengers and their luggage, said Lou Cusimano, the FAA’s deputy director of flight standards. Adults are counted as averaging 160 pounds in the summer and 165 pounds in the winter, because of extra clothing. A 20-pound allowance per person is tacked on for carry-on luggage.

The accuracy of the estimates is an important safety issue, and passengers who regularly fly on small planes can sometimes observe crew members double-checking to be sure that the plane is not too heavy. It is not unusual for passengers on commuter flights to be asked to change seats so that the overall load can be better balanced.

Before Flight 5481 took off, mechanics discussed with the crew whether the plane might be overloaded. However, it was determined to be within allowable limits. The plane climbed at a sharp, unsustainable angle before it stalled and crashed near an airport building.

“The assumption is that our current guidance [on weight estimates] is valid,” Cusimano said. “If we find that these weights cannot be validated, then we will take steps to deal with it.”

The FAA last updated its passenger weight allowances in 1995, but the American population has been growing gradually heavier.

The new FAA order applies only to planes seating from 10 to 19 passengers.

Airlines that fly these small planes have 30 days to survey the weight of passengers and their luggage on a sample of their flights. The carriers can either place passengers and their bags on a scale, or they can ask the passengers to give their weight. If the airline asks, it must add 10 pounds to the passenger’s reply, for an added margin.

The weight survey will last only three days at each of 24 carriers. Nonetheless, passengers on hundreds of flights are expected to be affected.

FAA inspectors also will check the netting and other gear used to secure luggage in the cargo hold. On a small, heavily loaded turboprop, shifting luggage can affect the pilots’ ability to control the plane.

Also on Monday, the FAA ordered emergency inspections of the elevators on 368 Beech 1900, 1900C and 1900D aircraft. Elevators are movable panels on the wing-like horizontal section of a plane’s tail.

The initial inspections, to be completed by midnight Friday, are supposed to help determine whether maintenance work can inadvertently create conditions in which the elevators do not move across the range of motion for which they were designed.

“There is no indication that this problem exists in the fleet,” said Ron Wojnar, deputy director of aircraft certification. But he added that the inspections would provide “an additional layer of safety.”