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Ted: LAX-LAS Weight Restricted?

 
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Old Dec 1, 2007, 10:58 am
  #1  
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Ted: LAX-LAS Weight Restricted?

My Ted flight from LAX-LAS last night was "weight restricted". The flight was booked full. The GA was asking for volunteers to get off the plane - and was giving VDB's. It looked like the GA may have taken about 6 volunteers at first. Then she went on the plane and took 3 more off (including myself).

Anybody have any thoughts on this - why the flight might have been weight restricted? I know I've been on completely full Ted flights before. There was some "weather" in LAS, but not sure why that would be an issue.

Was Ted just too tired by the end of the day to carry a full load?
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Old Dec 1, 2007, 11:01 am
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Could be some sort of mechanical issue. There are some equipment failures that don't prevent you from flying safely but do place some limits on altitude, payload, etc.
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Old Dec 1, 2007, 11:02 am
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Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

I've had that happen once before on Ted SFO-LAS.

I'm guessing a combination of weather and profitable cargo...
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Old Dec 1, 2007, 11:02 am
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Perhaps there was some unusually heavy cargo on it?

For a plane that can fly from JFK-SFO without stopping (in most scenarios), I'd think I little extra fuel for the short hop from LAX-LAS would certainly do the trick.

I can only think it'd be big cargo, or not wanting to wait to call the fuel truck back to top off the tanks.
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Old Dec 1, 2007, 11:06 am
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Maybe because too much fuel required at takeoff (due to heavy cargo, or possible delays/diversions) results in too much fuel remaining at landing? Or maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about.
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Old Dec 1, 2007, 11:18 am
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Originally Posted by Eastbay1K
Maybe because too much fuel required at takeoff (due to heavy cargo, or possible delays/diversions) results in too much fuel remaining at landing? Or maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about.
I'll buy it. (Of course, I know I have no idea what I'm talking about.)
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Old Dec 1, 2007, 11:34 am
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Which runway did it land on? 1RL/19RL are considerably shorter with less weight than 25RL/7RL. Maybe 25R/7L was closed or the N/S crosswind was above minimums or the fuel/cargo it was carrying combined with weather minimums it couldn't go full weight.
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Old Dec 1, 2007, 2:05 pm
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Maybe the plane carried a pallet of gold bullions or coins? Very heavy and dense stuff. Either way, I hope you received your proper IDB comps.
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Old Dec 1, 2007, 2:27 pm
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Originally Posted by prestonh
Which runway did it land on? 1RL/19RL are considerably shorter with less weight than 25RL/7RL. Maybe 25R/7L was closed or the N/S crosswind was above minimums or the fuel/cargo it was carrying combined with weather minimums it couldn't go full weight.
I could be wrong, but I think 25R is closed for construction.

Did Ted have CH9 on? Did you hear any mention of "mountain wave" wx conditions? Prior to Friday's so-cal rainstorm, we had some nice, strong Santa Ana winds blowing around.
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Old Dec 1, 2007, 3:11 pm
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Max fuel capacity on an A320 is just shy of 7000 U.S. gallons. The aircraft needs nowhere near that to get from LAX to LAS. It would have to be some very, very heavy cargo for that to be the issue.
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Old Dec 1, 2007, 4:03 pm
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There are two weights to be concerned about.
Max t/o off weight. Most likely not the case here.
Max landing weight. Most likely the case here.

Extra fuel needed for an alternate airport further than usual may be what happened. Extra freight maybe, if it was connecting to an overseas destination.
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Old Dec 1, 2007, 4:12 pm
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Originally Posted by tracon
There are two weights to be concerned about.
Max t/o off weight. Most likely not the case here.
Max landing weight. Most likely the case here.
There is also a max zero-fuel weight.

I can't imagine this was a takeoff weight limit, so fuel required is irrelevant; it had to be either a ZFW or landing weight limit.
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Old Dec 1, 2007, 4:22 pm
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Originally Posted by bhmlurker
Maybe the plane carried a pallet of gold bullions or coins? Very heavy and dense stuff. Either way, I hope you received your proper IDB comps.
Considering the destination, I'd think chips.
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Old Dec 1, 2007, 6:21 pm
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We landed on runway 25L. The weather was windy with light rain. Ted had Channel 9 on, and I heard that runway 1RL was closed to due to the weather. There was light to moderate chop the entire way from LAX-LAS.
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Old Dec 1, 2007, 11:06 pm
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I took a flight from ONT to LAS on the Thanksgiving weekend on US, and they also announced that they are seeking volunteers due to weight restriction.
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