How does my presence on an airplane effect its fuel efficiency?
category: Fuel Economy
If, say, a 777 takes off weighing 500,000 pounds vs. 500,230 pounds (180 pounds of me, 40 pounds of luggage and 10 extra pounds of food and drink the airline adds), how many more pounds of fuel will be used because I am on board?
Bitburger: I am astonished at the precision of your answer. Would you be kind enough to tell me how you calculated it?
Opp…I forgot to add:
Assume I’m traveling 1,500 miles.
.3288765 LBS. I subtracted 6 pounds from the refreshments you added to formulate a more accurate answer.
I’d say your presence is negligible. Every aircraft has a tolerance weight whether landing or take-off.
Fuel efficiency is a characteristic of a given aircraft that is a fixed function of the design, type of engine(s), and similar factors. I fly a single engine airplane with an 85-hp engine that uses about 4 gallons per hour at cruise. That is its fuel efficiency rating.
The weight of each passenger has a teeny-tiny effect on the fuel burn for a given flight, but it really is negligible. The typical passenger loading for a wide-body jet on a long haul would be around 60,000-80,000 pounds. So your weight might result in a marginal fuel burn of a couple of pounds per hour, or next to negligible.
So don’t feel guilty about the Chocolate Fudge Sunday. Enjoy!