I doubt there'd be any related exchange with the tower unless there was reason to expect an abnormal roll-out.


For certain, I'd re-distribute the passenger load, select a conservative landing flaps configuration and brief a 'spring-loaded to go-around' procedure.


The B747 event was caused by improperly secured cargo.


If bad CG doesn't get ya, maybe a malfunctioning elevator trim jack-screw can make your day -- like Air Alaska Flt 261's mishap. Another human factors mishap.


air alaska trim jack screw at DuckDuckGo

The human factor being poor maintenance?

Air Midwest Flt 5481 was another example, incorrect setting of the elevator turnbuckles was part of the cause, but the fact that the "average" weight of passengers and luggage used in the pre-flight calculation was way off was the other cause.

US airlines use FAA approved "average" weight figures for passengers and luggage when calculating take off weight, but the "average" figures had last been reviewed in 1936 and this was in 2003. When weighing the cargo and passengers using real figures (medical records were used for the passengers as there had been no survivors), the aircraft was more than 250 kg over its maximum t/o limit.

We used this as an example case for system safety lectures, a sort of "here are the fact, what went wrong?" exercise. Out of about fifty engineers only one thought to check the real weight against the calculated weight, the rest went with the elevators as the cause.

Air Midwest Flight 5481 - Wikipedia

Aww, jeeze, guys. An'here Iwas thinkin' about flyin' today.

But, hey, what could possibly go wrong, go wrOng, go wro . . . ?

Ouch. Being a small aircraft (21 pax), 264 kg was really significant. The amount of carry-on luggage I've seen people take onto aircraft in the USA is insane, but in such a small aircraft I don't see how that would have happened - except that they probably did what happens in small aircraft here, which is take the luggage off people are store it in the tail, which would upset the load balance.

On a slightly different topic, I only just realised that when pilots are asked by the tower for the number of people on an aircraft, the term "souls on board" is used, which makes the acronym SOB. I hadn't noticed before.


Anyway, I hope airlines find a better balance between profitability and cramming people into smaller and smaller spaces.

I'm sure you thoroughly check your aircraft!

As in many things aero-nautical, the use of the term SOBs goes back to the days of sailing ships. It was 'acronym-ized' when HF radio and Morse code were the means of declaring an emergency at sea. Some said it was an appeal to 'Save Our Butts'.

As a side note, there was even a time when it was argued the 'Captains' of trans-oceanic Pan Am flying boats were authorized to conduct marriages. Looong trips, short engagements and possibly honeymoon arrangements booked in the M.H. Club suite?

The video they made of the run up to the crash and subsequent investigation showed the ground crew loading the bags and asking the pilots how many they were to leave behind. The pilots checked their figures and using the approved averages concluded they were OK. If only...

We always used to quote Persons on Board (POB) rather than SOB, but then again when I started on the flight line we had a Weight On Ground (WOG) key for test purposes to override the undercarriage microswitches. Subsequent aircraft I worked on changed that to Weight On Wheels (WOW), but as there was also a Weight OFF Wheels switch we had to be very careful which one we were talking about.

The problem was highlighted when a fighter pilot slid along the runway on the belly, the investigation found that they would pre-select wheels up when doing a touch and go landing (as soon as they accelerated and lifted off the wheels would come up) only he misjudged the approach and bounced just a little. The computer read the first bounce as a signal to retract the wheels just as the aircraft settled back onto the runway.......

If only they listened!

Yikes! That was an expensive touch and... not go.

PS Listening to the tower frequency, I discovered that the RAAF tower crews always call "check wheels" for the RAAF crews but not the commercial pilots.

I second the suggestion - Earnest K Gann is one of my favorite aviation authors.