3651. Reducing Variation during Actual Aircraft Weighing

Paper

Abstract

Aircraft weight and center of gravity are attributes that vary over the production and operational lifecycle of an aircraft. For a production aircraft, variation in weight and center of gravity (CG) can alert a Mass Properties engineer to potential issues with the aircraft, the weighing equipment, or the weighing procedure. Consistent weighing results minimize risk and associated costs, increase confidence and ensure product quality. This paper will address industry shortcomings in defining variation in aircraft weight and CG, discuss methods for reducing variation for production aircraft and explore methods to determine allowable values of variation. Furthermore variation and trend analysis will be discussed, concluding with ideas for future improvements.