Hello everyone,I have two general questions... Just how is the aircraft weight in real world being measured? I'm aware that they can measure the weight of the cargo, luggage and fuel being loaded, but how the hell do they measure the weights of the passengers and their hand luggage!? I could imagine that it matters though, if the passengers in total have more or less 10,000 lbs.And second question is, on long haul flights, like 12 hours Heathrow - Hong Kong, do the captain and first officer always sit at the cockpit, are they allowed to get up from the seat, go for a walk, etc? On which basis are they allowed to be absent, if yes?

And to add to this one another question:When doing online flight, on VATSIM, am I "allowed" to go away from the "cockpit"? :) For example if doing such a long flight, do I have to disconnect from the VATSIM, if I say go to bed? Or can I set some Squawk Standby or something?Since just tonight, I was flying Hong Kong (and still am), and I forgot to disconnect before I went to bed...so I found my SB disconnected by ELB controller some time in the night. Sorry about that btw, but I just wanted to know what are permissions on that matter...Thx!

Hi,This is good revision for me :) Below are the JAA JAR OPS requirements:-First of all there are various weight types:A) Basic Empty Mass (aircraft, unusable fuel, all oils and fluids):( Variable Load (crew, galley, crew equipment, toilet chemials, etc)C)Traffic Load (passengers and cargo)D)Fuel (trip, holding, alternate, contingency)Combination Loads are:E) Dry Operating Mass = A + BF) Operating Mass = A + B + DG) Disposable Load = C + DH) Zero Fuel Mass = E + GI) All Up Mass = H + D or G + EPer person standard weights for passengers maybe as follows for Aircraft with:-All baggage to be weighed:i) 1-5 seats: male 104kg, Female 86kg, Children 35kgii) 6-9 seats: M96k, F78kg, C35kgii) 10-19 seats: M92kg, F74kg, C35kgPer person standard weights for 20+ seats:Holiday Charter: M88kg, F 70kg, C35kgNon-charter: M83kg, F69kg, C35kgPer person standard baggage weights (only for aircraft with 20+ seats):i) Dommestic: 11kgii) Within Europe: 13kgiii) Long-haul: 15kgiv) other: 13kgThe overiding requirement is that of the passengers are obviously heavier than the standards then they must be weighed.Hope that helps!

Great, thanks for the answer!Just to point one thing out:If you say, that Zero Fuel Mass (Mass without Fuel loaded, right?) is E+G, that suggests it's Dry OP Mass + Disposable Load, or A+B+C+D, and D you specified as Fuel. :)Something wrong in this picture?OK, and another question...are there some kind of "platforms" on which aircraft weight can exactly be measured? I think once I heard something about that... but I'm kinda shooting into free air here :)Thanks!

Oops! Just testing that you read the answer :)ZFM = E + C (DOM + Traffic)Answer to second question: Yes, the Basic Empty Mass is checked on a special platform, a set of pads that the wheels sit on.Just for you information (a bit beyond the limits of the sim). There are a number of other reasonably complex factors that have to be taken into account. The CofG, expressed as a percentage of the mean aerodynamic chord for swept wing aircraft, must remain within limits. Also, there are structural limits for Taxy, Takeoff, landing and zero fuel masses. In addition there is the performance limited masses for takeoff and laning. The most restrictive masses are called "Regulated", these are figures that you must not bust in any phase of flight. Real airline flight crew just get the output of a computer printout to double-check. However, if you get a video such as the Aurigny air one, there is a shot of the pilot doing his sums in the cockpit prior to the next sector.There is some more, albeit incomplete, information here (http://www.b737.org.uk)Have Fun.

Word Not Allowed,The second part of your post re VATSIM answers the first part about leaving the cockpit :-), it also shows you have not read the conditions of VATSIM membership which you agreed to when you joined ;-)You are not allowed to leave the cockpit when flying with VATSIM otherwise you will get disconnected and probably suspended for 24 hours with no appeal.Bandwidth is donated to VATSIM with no charge so VATSIM have a duty to ensure that bandwidth is not abused by people staying connected for hours but not actually being at the computer.If you do not respond to a controller's message within a period of 30 minutes you will be disconnected and, IIRC, given a 24 hour suspension with a confirming email to you.If you are endangering other traffic I think a controller can kick you before 30 minutes is up.Best practice as follows.If you are under ATC control and wish to leave the flightdeck for a short period, say for a 'natural break' or to make a drink, ask permission from the controller."Sir, I wish to leave the flightdeck (cockpit) for 5 minutes", obviously wait for approval.If it is for a longer period, up to 30 minutes, you may be asked to give a valid reason or the controller may refuse, if the latter then you must log off VATSIM.In your particular case if you were under ATC control at bedtime tell the controller that you are going to disconnect and wait for his reply.Now the tricky bit of rejoining VATSIM.You need to make sure there is no traffic near you when you rejoin but that is difficult as how do you know without rejoining?ServInfo map view will give a good indication of where traffic is as will Whazzup, just make sure they are using current and not old data.Some people suggest starting on the ground and then asking the local controller permission to rejoin at a specific location and altitude.If you are already in the cruise I find this unsatisfactory so suggest the following.Pause FS near a waypoint or VOR and slew up to something like FL590 so that you are out of the way of normal traffic.Connect to VATSIM and the local controller and ask if you can rejoin at that location and your normal cruise ALT.If he agrees slew down to cruise ALT and unpause FS, take control of aircraft and a quick call to ATC with callsign and current ALT.Most of the above information is available in the Pilot Resource Centre, one of the main reasons it was created ;-)HTH

How do you "slew down"...? I know Slewing up is F4. How about down?Eric

>How do you "slew down"...? I know Slewing up is F4. How>about down?>>EricEh :-hmmm Slew mode 'Y'Up 'Q'Down 'A'At least in FS9HTH

Does the flight crew leave the cockpit? I surely hope so. On most long flights like the London/Hong Kong run, you would most likely have at least two separate cockpit crews on board. Each would divide the flying duty usually by seniority. On those long haul flights, some of the big aircraft like the 747 have special crew rest areas for both flight and cabin crews. For those operations that cannot afford to staff two full flight crews, you would have to have a relief pilot or two. Besides the amount of time the crews are allowed to fly each day, there are limits to how long they can be on duty also. Pre and post flight times plus any time waiting for maintenance or weather eats into the duty day time.Terry