Two issues (or questions) about the A320neo:
-
empty weight is given as 90.400 lb. According to Airbus, the A320neo usually has an operating empty weight of 97.700 lb. Is this plausible to have an empty weight of 90.400 lb or is this just wrong?
-
The default payload has 6115 lb in the business class and 4000 lb in the economy class (forward baggage 3505 lb, rear baggage 6310 lb). This results in a default CG of 21.6%.
This seems to be a little bit unusual to me, too. Business class usually has around 28 seats, economy class 150. What do we have on board, Jabba the Hut travelling in business class with a pile of people in the rear baggage?
Would be nice when the values would be more realistic with around 5 times more passengers in economy than business. This should result in a CG of 25-30% - I’m just a beginner, but isn’t that a more plausible value?
Bonus task: Use a passenger slider (instead of %) from 0 to 180, accounting for 170 lb (passenger) + 35 lb (baggage) per person. Put them in a 1:5 ratio across business / economy and fill in the resulting weights in the existing fields.
Yes, you could do it yourself, but who of you really does this? It would just be a little frontend change, resulting in a slightly more realistic baseline.
3 Likes
give us a choice in Kgs as well please
Empty weight and operating weight are not the same thing. The Dry Operating Mass (DOM) normally includes the weight of the crew, catering, standard equipment etc. Basically everything except payload and fuel.
The seating thing depends on the airline in question but indeed a larger business class section compared to economy class does not seem likely. It would be better to cut the cabin into at least three cabin sections as this is also the case on the load and trim sheet.
For the passenger weights I would suggest using EASA standard mass values including 6 kg of hand luggage (which is considered standard).
In the weights page of the flight simulator are: empty weight, payload weight (=traffic load), fuel and, as the sum of those three, the takeoff mass. There is no crew etc. weight on this side.
So the “empty weight” in MSFS = operating empty weight, not basic empty weight.
Regarding the cabin, my suggestion would be the simplest one, embracing the current solution. Just balancing the given values to achieve a normal CG.
Question is what “operating weight” Airbus is referring to, apart from a Dry Operating Mass there is also a Wet Operating Mass which is the aircrafts weight only excluding traffic load. Maybe they gave the wet operating mass for a typical flight? Seems like we need an AFM to find the correct answer.
I think a loadplanner should be a standard in all simulators, also in MSFS2020. It makes the simulator more realistic.
The usual standard weight for passenger is 80kg+5kg hand. Some Airlines make diff between female and male (75 and 85). It also differ in US . Could be wrong but after my experience I have notice that.
RGDS
Bjorn
Almost, on planes >30 seats its 84 or 76 kgs depending on type of flight which includes 6 kgs hand baggage. Male and female split is done below 30 seats.
I have made a calculation for msfs2020 Airbusneo as follows:
fullbooked 180pax. 30seats in buissnis gives 2.4160kg, and 150pax in economy gives 12.840kg, which results in total payload of 15.300kg, based on 85kg/passenger incl 5kg of carryon bagage, just to get it as realistic as possible
I use Simbrief to calculate my weights and fligtplan, and Navigraph for charts.
Regards
Bjorn
Sorry it is not the payload, just pass weight excl bagage weight, which i calculate 11kg for domestic and 13kg intetnational flights
Regards