On 24 Jan 2007 15:18:47 -0800, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:


I wonder if the pilots had to trim the aircraft to compensate for the
load.

On an airliner? Nah.

This *is* a serious issue, however. I spent several hours on a flight
to Atlanta seated in the last row of seats (the ones where the ceiling
curves over your head) next to a guy who was the size of two of me.

I liked riding DC-9s and their climb rate, but I heard people complain
about noise and vibration. I couldn't figure out what they were
talking about on a "9". THEN I had the privilege of taking a wait
listing out of Boston for O'Hare. (I should have waited for the next
day as the stay would have been more entertaining) At any rate I had
the outside seat in the row with no window and the seat back wouldn't
move. One seat farther back and I'd have had a private room. I
thought I was on a Gray Hound buss. It sounded like one, it vibrated
like one, and it even smelled like one.

But as to the W&B. I flew out of Boston this time on a DC10. This was
in the days before they limited carryon. Mine was a shoulder bag about
the size of a duffle bag and just as heavy. It would just fit in the
overhead if you worked really hard. I don't think there was an empty
seat. Of course being packed in like sardines IIRC, we were all
overjoyed to hear the announcement "You all will be glad to hear we
are number 57 in line to depart" This was out of Logan. At any rate
I was kinda glad we had to burn off fuel for over an hour when we took
off. It seemed as if we were getting light on the gear almost half
way down the runway. We finally started to bounce along on the gear as
we kept slowly accelerating. Finally the nose came up, but I could
feel the tail kinda tuck under. Any one who has ever felt over
rotation knows that feeling. At that point I must have grabbed the
arm rests as the guy beside me asked if I was OK. I squeaked out "I'm
fine" and then checked for finger prints in the arm rests. We went
between the cranes off the end of the runway as we cleared the
buildings. I have never seen a commercial flight clear the end of the
runway lower than that except for a DC-6 a longggg time ago. I was at
the end of the runway that time and saw his tires hit the tops of the
grass and weeds. I know they have checks on the weight of passengers
and baggage but I'll swear that DC-10 was overloaded.

At any rate a couple minutes later the guy asked me something and I
replied that sometimes it's better not to know what's going on. He
didn't ask any more questions.

When we got to Cleveland I was behind schedule due to the storm we had
just flown over, around, and through had knocked out the RADAR. One
nice young woman (pretty too IIRC) offered to help by getting my
carryon down. I hollered "don't" as I reached from behind her to catch
the bag just as she pulled the bag out of the overhead. We both went
over the armrest behind me with her ending up in my lap and the bag
over her lap. I sure was glad she though it was funny. Made the whole
trip worthwhile. (We had to wait until some kind soul helped move the
bag.)

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com