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Engineering Commons

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Aviation

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Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

2016

Aircraft performance

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Passenger Obesity And Regional Aircraft Performance For The Most Corpulent States In The Usa, Douglas D. Boyd Jul 2016

Passenger Obesity And Regional Aircraft Performance For The Most Corpulent States In The Usa, Douglas D. Boyd

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Obesity affects over 25% of Americans; however, prescribed FAA standard passenger weights for US airlines are based on data compiled 15 years ago. Since increased passenger weight degrades aircraft performance and may lead to a loss of control, the hypothesis herein is that passenger weight under-estimation for states with high obesity rates could potentially lead to a runway overrun or the inability to out climb rising terrain. In terms of the employed methodology, current person weights for the ten most obese states were determined using nationwide data adjusted for state ethnicity. Performance degradation for regional aircraft was assessed by accelerate-stop …