The Five Pound Bag

The old adage is that you can’t fit ten pounds in a five pound bag. An aircraft more often than not, becomes that ten pound vessel. Oh it can hold it all right, but something’s gotta give. In most cases its range and performance, in some aircraft it is a lack of storage. Crew closets hold service items, baggage areas hold galley supplies and cabinets burst at the seams.

 

 

Most operators planning a completion don’t come to the table prepared with list detailing all of the items required. This should include the weights of items like galley supplies, china etc. Although they are not part of the actual weight and balance and considered loose equipment, they affect the cabinet’s structure. Over weight items will require cabinets and drawers to be stressed to hold additional weight with double slides and robust panels.

The galley and table service are the two biggest culprits. Cabin crews need to carry everything and the kitchen sink. I once inventoried a G-IV’s galley to find 72 cans of soda, 16 bottles of wine and eighty pounds of China and Silver. That’s one passenger, in total the galley held 540 pound of stock. Half of that would have provided first class service to a cabin of eight.

 

 

Plan for the seventy –fifth percentile flight, not that one time you may need it all. When you do, use fly-away boxes to hold the additional items. When heading to remote regions, then stock the baggage with extra water and wine. Plan you service when working with the center. A salad bowl can double as a cereal bowl and a beard plate can double as a dessert plate.

When designing your layout, ask the completion center to provide adequate space and account for the weight of each storage area. Then use the plans of each storage area as an inventory check list when preparing the aircraft. This will prevent overloading that leads to broken latches, slides that bind, and doors and drawers that break. Most of all, it might mean not off-loading that additional passenger, making range or using every foot of that tight landing.