Salah satu kerjaya yang diminati didalam syarikat penerbangan ialah perkerjayaan sebagai pilot atau juruterbang.
Ianya satu kerjaya yang mampu mendapatkan gaji yang lumayan dan berperistij. Dia tidak memerlukan kelulusan yang tinggi dan mampu dengan kelulusan SPM sahaja.
Salah satu pengentahuan yang harus diketahui ialah berkenaan dengan berat kapal terbangan atau dalam bahasa inggerisnya the aircraft weight.
Pilot harus sentiasa ingat tentang weight kapal terbang. Jenis jenis berat atau weight ia lah:
1. Aircraft basic weight: Berat kapal tanpa muatan dan minyak. Semasa kapal di bina,beratnya akan ditimbang dan diletakkan didalam flight manual atau operation manual.
2. Berat tanpa minyak - Zero fuel weight ZFW= aircraft basic weight + load. Load yang dikira ialah kargo, sama ada bulk kargo atau kontena. Bekalan dan makanan dan penumpang. Pada umum nya penumpang dewasa dan bag yang dibawa bersama dikira sebanyak 70 kg dan kanak kanak 40 kg.
3. Berat takeoff - takeoff weight ialah berat kapal semasa dilandasan setelah dicampor tengan minyak. Berat takeoff weight pada umum nya ialah yang terbesar, melebihi berat mendarat.
4. Landing weight, berat mendarat ialah berat kapal semasa ianya mendarat.
Semua berat ,(weight) yang disebut diatas ada mempunyai maximum nya. Kapal tidak dibenarkan melebihan had berat tersebut. Semasa kecemasan yand mana kapal terpaksa mendarat cemas selepas berlepas, menyak harus dibuang diatas lautan untuk mengurangkan berat kapal.
One of the areas that a pilot has to remember by heart is the aircraft weights. During the examination he will be asked, and he cannot make a single mistake. The weight such as the maximum takeoff weight, maximum landing weight, maximum zero fuel weights are some the weight figures that have to be committed to memory.
In the old days, a piece of paper will be sent to the aircraft by the despatch clerk, containing the relevant weight and balance information. Now, the new aircraft and most airports have the facilities to transmit the data by ACARS link. The data contains, TOW - take off weight, ZFW- Zero fuel load, the fuel load, the pay load and the Horizontal Trim setting, %MAC.
The aircraft center of gravity has to be arrange to fall within a certain range of the aircraft center. ( actually it is the MAC, but it is too complex). So the loads, especially the cargo have to positioned to meet these requirements, so are the passengers, at 75 Kg per adult, are fairly distributed into the zones.
In the bigger jetliner with longer swap-back wing, the location of the fuel will effect the C of G (center of gravity ) greatly. There are some aircraft that put fuel in the tail (vertical stabilize) to balance the Cof G.
The aircraft weight is given by the manufacturer. There may be slight variation with the same aircraft type.
Start with the
aircraft manufactured weight ... xx kgs. Then we add the fixed equipments, the galley, the seats, overhead lockers, trim, carpets etc, then we have the
aircraft basic weight.
Then we put all the loads, the cargo, the passengers, food and accessories (removable), the we have the aircraft ZFW
zero fuel weight. Check against the maximum!.
Then we add the fuel for the trip... we have the taxi weight.
- minus taxi fuel... we have the aircraft takeoff weight -- check for maximum.
- minus the trip fuel ... we have the aircraft landing weight.. check against maximum.
The aircraft are not permitted to exceed the published weight. There are cases that an aircraft does an overweight landing. This normally happen when the aircraft are required to return to base. Some aircrafts, like B747 and the other Boeing series, have the facilities to allow dumping of fuel. The environmentalists do no like this, but it has to be done. Some aircraft do not have dumping capability, as the maximum landing weight is about the same as the maximum takeoff weight.
Hope you have some idea about.. aircraft weight.
Joha
