What is a Payload-Range Diagram?

A typical payload-range diagram looks like this: There is aircraft range along the horizontal axis and payload carried along the vertical axis. What are they used for? As a Pilot First and foremost a pilot can look at an aircraft’s payload range diagram and confirm that an aircraft is able to achieve a given mission, i.e. can fly a give combination of payload and range. Everything within the three lines is an achievable payload-range mission combination for a particular aircraft and everything outside is not. When flying close to the boundary pilots may have to pay close attention to make sure Continue Reading

The Airbus Widebody Fuselage Cross-Section

Although the Airbus A300 is no longer in production, part of it lives on. The original fuselage cross-section of the A300 has been used on a further 13 Airbus aircraft across 3 different aircraft families, ranging in length from 47m (155ft) all the way up to 75m (246ft). As of today 2427 aircraft using the same A300 cross-section have been delivered, even though only 561 A300s were constructed. This year the same cross-section will have enjoyed 42 years of uninterrupted production, and a backlog of 363 orders for the A330neo will ensure production past 2020 at least. A perfectly circular Continue Reading