SAWE RP A-4, 2024: Survey Methods for Establishment of Passenger, Bag and Carry-On Weights

Once it became clear that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was taking an unorthodox approach to the administration of weight & balance programs with issuance of revision F of Advisory Circular 120-27, it also became clear that the concept of industry standards in this area was being devalued. As such, a desire to retain the ability to produce and use standards on an industry level was expressed by the aircraft weight & balance community. There are several reasons for application of standards, including establishment of a common baseline for assessment of passenger and bag weights. Availability of standards will also reduce an operator’s willingness to assume risk to achieve competitive advantage. The opportunity to address this issue  as an industry is being made available through a broad collaboration of subject matter experts who are selflessly donating their time to this effort.

This document has been developed through collaboration with the Society of Aircraft Performance and Operations Engineers (SAPOE). This partnership between SAWE and SAPOE offers an excellent example of leveraging institutional domain knowledge from both communities and applying in an area of need where overlap exists. This document wouldn’t exist without the support of leadership from both SAWE and SAPOE.

This document is intended to aid engineers and statisticians designing and executing passenger and passenger bag weight surveys for airplane operations conducted in compliance with United States Federal Aviation Administration requirements (14CFR120/121/125/135/91K) as controlled by Operations Specifications A096/A097/A098 and A099.