Captain Gabrielle, a friend of mine is an A320 pilot flying for Indigo. He mentioned something interesting- that unlike many other aircraft the Maximum Landing Mass of an A320 can be equal to the Maximum Takeoff Mass. This means that an A320 doesn't have to jettison fuel or burn fuel for a certain time before coming in to land in case of an emergency. Is that correct?
Sometimes the max weights depend on some certifications... The same aircraft can have different max weights.. however if that is the case it will be useful for pilots in case of an air turn back.
If you need to land in case of emergency at departure aerodrome or at take off alternate, can you land with overweight or you have to dump the fuel before landing?
Airlines use standard weights for passengers, including their hand baggage. Some distinguish only between adults and children (infants are zero weight), and others have weights for adult males and adult females. And some other companies use different weights according to the season, because people tend to carry more clothes and hand baggage in winter than in summer. And companies should have procedures in order to take into account special loads of passengers. For instance sport teams. Sometimes there are rugby teams of 40 guys who weigh 100 kg each. This may be significant for some aircraft. Once in a while, some companies conduct passengers weighing procedures in order to adjust their standard weights. I have read that Air New Zealand has done that recently.
