I was wondering how much weight is added to an A/C by painting it? It
seemed to us that there would be a substantial fuel savings and an
increase in load carrying capacity if the A/C weren't painted.

We were watching the A/C coming into Louisville and one individual
noticed a couple of them did not have the entire fuslage painted, only
the tail. This started a discussion of how much weight savings there
would be if the A/C only had a minimum of paint.

Louisville is a UPS hub. Delta and Southwest are the two major
passenger carriers. All of the A/C associated with these three
carriers have a full fuslage paint job. The only carrier that we could
think of that did not have the entire plane painted was American
Airlines. They only use the carrier lettering with red & blue striping
on their A/C.


Rick Simms
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Why is it that the first gray hairs in the eyebrows have to stick straight out?