Transcript
JON SNOOK: On the Boeing 767 aircraft, we found that the weights that we were going to start using would in fact, in extreme circumstances where you have only adults in a row in many of the rows in the aircraft, exceed the ultimate loading limit of the floor on that aircraft. What that means is, in the event that the aircraft were to experience some trauma, some hard landing or some other traumatic event, the ultimate load prescribed by the manufacturer would be exceeded.
DOMINIC GODFREY: It's actually an internal engineering issue versus the overall performance of the aircraft?
JS: Absolutely. Absolutely, and we went back to Boeing to say 'Are you sure, have you given us the very best capabilities that your engineers calculate for the ultimate loading of the floor?' and they said 'Yes, we're sure. This is the ultimate load that you cannot exceed.' And so, in order to mitigate that, and still accommodate our guests from Pago Pago, the best way of us doing that is to ensure that we have at least one child in each row of the aircraft.
DG: Or an empty seat I think was the other choice?
JS: Absolutely, or an empty seat. And in fact, over this period of the year, those flights aren't very full and so that's actually malleable in most circumstances to put an empty seat there.
DG: What is the weight differential from what was your previous understanding to what is now, after the six month weigh-in period? What was the weight differential there, what is the theory versus reality?
JS: So it was different in both directions but on average it was about 30 to 35-pounds depending on which direction. I would say 35-pounds is a fair description of the weight differential that we're now using relative to the weight we were using.
DG: So in a seven passenger row like the 767 has, that's quite a bit of a weight differential isn't it?
JS: That's right and that's really the issue that we encountered.
