How much cargo?

[KingGhidorah 209]

As a general example, I'm flying a 737-700 with 100 passengers.  By default values, Topcat says that is 20000 lbs of people and 24 lbs of extra bags in the cargo hold per person, so 2400 lbs of baggage.  How much extra cargo would be typical?  Do airliners generally carry the regular mail or other stuff, or is it normally just the bags?  I know this is a pretty broad question, but I've been in the habit of just using some arbitrary amount, and I would rather be doing things more realistically.  Any general rules that people are using that they could impart?

[KingGhidorah 209]

I'm surprised that nobody appears to have any insight into this question.

[James Bennett 52]

Depends on the airline and their max baggage allowance, the seating config on the aircraft in question, and the carry on luggage restrictions. And whether they carry a cargo pallet and what is in it.

 

But quick sums, at 137 pax based on a southwest 737-700, with a hold luggage cap of ~23kg, say average of 18kg, this works out at just under 2.5 metric tonnes. I'm sure you can convert this into lbs.

[KingGhidorah 209]

Depends on the airline and their max baggage allowance, the seating config on the aircraft in question, and the carry on luggage restrictions. And whether they carry a cargo pallet and what is in it.

 

But quick sums, at 137 pax based on a southwest 737-700, with a hold luggage cap of ~23kg, say average of 18kg, this works out at just under 2.5 metric tonnes. I'm sure you can convert this into lbs.

 

There are actually several weight issues that I'm trying to pin down. If we are using the PMDG 737 as an example, then that appears to use 175 lbs (80kg) per person for the basic passenger weight. You can't change that, as far as I know, and it appears to make no allowance for carry-on bags, which really adds up when we are talking 100 plus passengers. The MD-11 uses 190 lbs/pax, and I don't know if that is assumed to include carry-ons or not. The Level D 767 looks like it uses 168 lbs per person and automatically throws 30 lbs per passenger into the cargo hold. Other figures I've seen assume 190 lbs per person and another 40 lbs of bags per person in the belly on top of that. So it is all over the board and difficult to come up with something for the cargo hold that I could assume was realistic.

 

Meanwhile, there is still the question of how much extra Cargo might typically be carried. Is it common for airlines to have bulk shipping or mail contracts, so that whatever the passenger baggage determination is, a plane would commonly carry other things?

[N60JBravo 27]

Use whatever figures you want.

 

There are no standards and as far as I know, this type of RW info isn't readily available.

 

Yes airlines supplement their revenue by carrying cargo on pax flights.

 

They also carry baggage that got left behind from previous flights. How do we account for that?

 

I would do what airlines hope for. Stuff as much people/baggage/cargo on the plane that the wings can get off the ground before you run out of pavement.

 

regards,

Joe

[KingGhidorah 209]

Use whatever figures you want.

 

There are no standards and as far as I know, this type of RW info isn't readily available.

 

Yes airlines supplement their revenue by carrying cargo on pax flights.

 

They also carry baggage that got left behind from previous flights. How do we account for that?

 

I would do what airlines hope for. Stuff as much people/baggage/cargo on the plane that the wings can get off the ground before you run out of pavement.

 

regards,

Joe

 

The reason I asked is that I'm trying to get away from the anything goes method and trying to refine it down for more realism.  Cramming in 185 passengers and a random 8000 lbs of cargo give or take 100% isn't quite what I'm looking to do...

[James Bennett 52]

why not just select a number of pax and estimate 18kg average for each one. There isn't really any more "realistic" method i can think of. Maybe look at a virtual airline who give you pax numbers and cargo weight for each individual flight?