Considering health and wellness when it comes to flying is natural; pilots, flight engineers, and other crewmembers have to be in good physical condition and pass regular medical exams in order to exercise the privileges of their certificates. However, health considerations extend beyond crewmembers; they are critical to passengers as well – especially when it comes to weight. In the past 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in obesity levels in the United States, with rates expected to continue rising. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), more than one-third of U.S. adults are obese and that number is expected to exceed 44% by 2030.
Considering air travel is expected to grow at a rate of 5% each year until 2031, the number of obese air travelers is likely to increase along with the world’s expanding waistlines. The anticipated increase in air travel, combined with the predicted increase in obesity over the next 16 years creates a unique question about the impact these heavier travelers may have on the airline industry, regulations, and air safety.
Air travelers frequently complain about heavier seatmates impeding on their space, or the obese being forced to purchase second seats. These issues, while important for comfort, overshadow the real concern of heavier passengers on flights: how their weight effects the safety of flight.
It’s an issue that people don’t want to talk about, but the conversation about how the weight of passengers is going to impact the industry needs to begin. Safety of flight is a real concern since the weight of passengers has been a significant factor in air crashes like Air Midwest Flight 5481 in North Carolina in 2003, where the aircraft had been serviced during a scheduled maintenance check involving rigging the elevator control cable, which allows the pilots to control pitch; however, the rigging was done incorrectly. The aircraft flew nine times before the accident flight, suggesting the aircraft’s weight and balance played a critical role in the outcome of the flight. This particular crash called attention to the standard passenger weights used by airlines to perform a weight and balance prior to takeoff, which revealed that there is a significant difference between the standard weight and the actual weight of the U.S. flying population (about a 20-25 pound difference according to the resulting study).
While passengers don’t board an aircraft expecting to experience an air emergency or crash, it is critical that attention is given to the impact of passenger weight on the safety of the flight and the potential to need safety equipment (most of which is not designed for heavier passengers) may need to be employed. While it may be a tough issue to tackle, a candid discussion on this weighty issue needs to begin before it’s too late.
– Kristina Larson, JETPUBS Inc.