US AIRWAYS EXPRESS Flight 5481
Had overweight pax as a possible cause of the accident. This was only a small turboprop.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/...in554860.shtml
Another factor contributing to the crash may have been weight. The plane was judged to be within 100 pounds of its weight limit. Too much weight can change a small plane's center of gravity and make it much more difficult to fly.
Though this is not usually an issue for 737s
Pax are deemed to be an average weight, whether that average is still valid is another point for discussion, but take the fat vs thin and children an average is reasonable. Then take the max weight for all pax baggage and you get you take off weight.
Excess baggage is usually a quick buck for the airline, thats why the Easyjets of the world are often big on such charges and tight on the initial weight limits.
Tricks - make sure your carry on is at its weifht limit. Then put on your heavy coat and jumper, don't put them in the case, understand what else apart from the carry on bag you can bring on board, camera, book, ladies purse etc.
Easyjet charge £4 per kilo. This guy was therefore carrying 35kg of baggage. Nearly 2 1/2 stone over limit. Thats enough weight to make him fat too.
Another cheeky one the budget airlines do is give no baggage allowance for infants. So the stroller, car seat etc are all part of the 20kg. BA give a stroller, car seat, 10kg suitcase as part of the infant ticket allowance - on top of your own 20kg allowance.