-1
$\begingroup$

There have been some accidents due to wrong weight calculations that ended in fatalities, both in comercial and private aviation.

Besides this, though it is a simple task on the pilot's flight check list, it is a task. So I wonder, why don't aircraft have a built-in scale that would solve this problem and accurately give the total weight of the aircraft so it is safer and also one less item the pilot has to do.

aircraft scale
(Aircraft scale source)

Instead of using a balance like the image above, it could be something installed inside the landing gear shock strut/cylinder that depending on the bar level it could tell the weight of the aircraft.

landing gear
(source)

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ Does this answer your question? aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/1850/… $\endgroup$
    – Michael Hall
    Commented Jul 9 at 23:19
  • $\begingroup$ I thought the same but could not find anything... $\endgroup$
    – Gabe
    Commented Jul 9 at 23:19
  • $\begingroup$ @MichaelHall i think it does. I didn't buy the point one made saying "because airplanes have wings" .... c'mon, a A320, B747, A380 ? c'mon....I wouldn't buy that even on a ultralight, not even on a glider lol....you would need a lot of wind around those wings .... $\endgroup$
    – Gabe
    Commented Jul 9 at 23:34

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
-2
$\begingroup$

Because you don't actually care about the weight on the landing gear, you care about the mass of the aircraft. A scale in the landing gear would measure the weight, which is force that is currently applied to the scale. However, this is not only composed of the aircraft mass, but it is influenced by many factors (wind, temperature/humidity, inclination of the ground, unbalanced load, ...) that would lead to an inaccurate readings.

When aircraft are weighted during their periodic checks, this operation is done in a controlled enviroment, usually an hangar, which special scales. For example, this scale:

an aircraft external scale

It uses external sensors to determine the inclination of the ground and provide an accurate measurement. Still, it works reliabily only for 1° maximum of inclination (ref. product page).

In conclusions, you can put a scale in the landing gear, but a light wind pushing on the bottom of the wings would result in a smaller value, which is dangerous. Moreover, you still need to calculate the weight distribution. So, it's simpler and safer to compute the mass, rather then derive it from the measured weight on the landing gear.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Comments have been moved to chat; please do not continue the discussion here. Before posting a comment below this one, please review the purposes of comments. Comments that do not request clarification or suggest improvements usually belong as an answer, on Aviation Meta, or in Aviation Chat. Comments continuing discussion may be removed. $\endgroup$
    – Ralph J ♦
    Commented Jul 13 at 3:41

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .