Just a question about MTOW. My local areodrome has a sealed runway that has a MTOW of 5.7 tonnes. This is listed in the enroute supplement and confirmed at the aerodrome's own website. However on ocassion I see aircraft movements at this aerodrome where the aircraft clearly exceed MTOW and by a significant margin. One example last year was a Learjet whose MTOW might be near double the specs. Also the occasional DC3. Does anyone know under what circumstances MTOW can be exceeded?EDIT: It's OK, I found the answer in the relevant sections in the CASA regulations - "Operating Standards for Licensed Aerodromes".

maybe it depends on the wind? if you have a strong head wind you'll be airborne earlier than without?Evert

MTOW for the runway has to do with the loadbearing capacity of the runway, not with runway lenght and wind (MTOW for the aircraft DOES take these into account as well as landing gear loadbearing capacity).The Lear and DC-3 might have special clearance or be allowed due to load distribution (if ground pressure is low, for example).