Your Flight: Behind the Scenes – Turbulence!

Part 12 of the series?Your Flight: Behind the Scenes

Cathy, the flight attendant who was James’ friend served the lunch. Bob and James both devoured the gourmet cuisine to their heart’s delight. After lunch, James as promised to Bob earlier, checked with Cathy about seeing the location of the Crew Rest Compartment (CRC). Cathy said she’ll check and come back if that will be possible.

As lunch was quite satisfying, both Bob and James soon fell into a siesta. Bob was a quick sleeper and was blessed with dreams about various facets of airline and airport operations which he was discussing with James for the last ten hours or so. In his dream he was about to board the plane when he felt the aerobridge and the aircraft itself shaking! Was it an earthquake? Right when he was to step into the plane he saw the aircraft getting detached itself from the aerobridge and he fell into the gap between the aircraft and the platform!

Bob screamed as he fell from a height of 60 feet! A moment before he hit the ground head first, James shook him awake from his dream. There was a strong turbulence that jolted the aircraft and it lost some height momentarily, the experience of which found its way into Bob’s dream manifested as his fall from the aerobridge. Everything was good now.

As he relaxed, Bob gave a sheepish smile as James told him that his scream was louder than the turbulence itself.

‘I always wanted to know this James. How does a plane remain balanced while flying? How are all these weights managed while up in the air? Isn’t there a possibility that these weights could affect the balance of the aircraft while we fly? Maybe I’ll stop screaming if you can help me with these answers that come to my mind every time I step on to a flight.

James assumed the look of a yogi who seems to be the one with answers to all the problems in the world. With his usual smile, he started with a question itself.

‘Very good thought Bob and quite a valid one indeed. Let me assure you that there is a dedicated team which is an integral part of an airline that ensures the weight and balance of an aircraft is addressed to perfection before a flight takes off. This guarantees that the aircraft is safe in all three stages of its flight, during take-off, while cruising and when landing. This is usually called the Load Control department and the amazing people who do this job are known as Load Controllers.’

James could already see signs of relief on Bob’s face and he continued.

‘Bob, can you imagine the type of weights a Load Controller needs to be aware of while he plans the weight and balance of a departing flight?’

‘Of course James, you need to consider the people, bags and cargo. What else could the case be?’

‘You are absolutely right on those three elements Bob. But you missed two key ones. The actual weight of the aircraft itself without any of the other elements, which we call dry operating weight. The other one is probably the least known, but most important of all weights, which is the fuel planned for the flight. If you have noticed, every element here except for the dry operating weight is quite dynamic and keep changing even up to minutes before departure.

Have you ever seen an old type of weighing scale which had two sides where you kept the items on one side and the weights on the other? Now imagine trying to balance the weight and as soon as you thought you achieved the balance, something more gets added to the items. You’ve to balance again until no more weights get added. This my dear friend, is the life of a Load Controller as people, bags, cargo and at times even fuel weight changes as they keep getting added to the flight up to a certain cut off point before the flight departs.

Let me assure you Bob that these people who are tasked with this activity of balancing the flights are one of the best in the aviation world that they are very well aware of the fact that they are not just balancing an aircraft, but are indeed responsible for the lives of hundreds of people on board.

So much so that in an unfortunate incident involving an aircraft the first set of people who will be pulled up for an investigation will be the pilots if they were still alive, the next will be the Load Controllers!’

Bob had a face full of realization. This was a lesson for his life and he found a renewed respect for everything that goes behind the scenes and has an elevated level of admiration especially for the Load Controllers that he gave a salute in his mind for the true heroes which the passengers will never see and were always taken for granted!

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