Cargo capacity

[johnlattanzio]

Can someone explain this?
I have an A342.

Cargo capacity is listed as CL (max) 14050kg and CS (max) 16530kg
Now I understand that is probably ONE or the OTHER. Not both at once. It is the max of either type.

BUT the actual capacity is CL = 1630 and CS = 3810....total about 5400kg which is much less gthan either max above.

Why?

Is the max capacity if there are no passengers or something?

Confused....

Thansk!

[dmoose42]

Without seeing the specific route in question, it's hard to say, but my first guess would be that this is the maximum amount of cargo that could be held given the fuel requirements to fly that route. A shorter route would allow the plane to carry less fuel and more cargo.

[groundbum2]

once you create the route, at the bottom you have a slider as to what percentage you want to dedicate to light or standard freight, say 70% light and 30% standard. The max's are if you slid it to 100% one way or the other, meaning 0% for the other type of freight.

The numbers are there more for comparison between aircraft types when deciding what to buy.

Simon

[yearofthecactus]

Since the addition of cargo, noting the true range of an aircraft at full load is very important.

Cargo only plane variants show their default range as being the distance it can go with 100% load (that would be point a). This is the main reason cargo planes look to have short range capabilities, which isn't exactly true.

Passenger planes show their default range as being the distance it can go with default seating and no cargo (point b). These are entirely different figures that represent different design goals of the game at different times. I'd like there to be a standard, but at the moment it's important to understand this as the main reason for restricted cargo.

Therefore, it doesn't matter what type of plane you have if you have a 200 seater plane that has a supposed range of 2000nm, and you fly it to 2000nm, you won't be able to carry any cargo.

In the attached figure, point b is what a passenger plane in your config shows it can do. But to have full cargo capability/mtow overall it would need to meet the criteria for point a, where you'd have to either have much fewer seats, or a much shorter route.

In the above diagram, you can take 156 passengers to 1400-1500 nm without losing any passeger capability. But to take full passenger and cargo, you need to be flying less than 1100nm.

Your limited cargo capability on the pax plane means your x on the graph is somewhere between points a and b, but closer to b.

[johnlattanzio]

Thanks all!

Cargo is quite complicated :-)  Appreciate everyone's help (as always!)

John L

[yearofthecactus]

Sami needs to develop a standard for range that doesn't cause confusion. Changing all figures to max payload ranges appears to be the most obvious and easiest to implement.

[JumboShrimp]

BTW, similar issue affects Combi aircraft (or more so).  While the system correctly reports the weight  Cargo aircraft can carry, correctly reports the pax that can be carried for pax aircraft (but not saying cargo may go to zero), same issue applies for Combi aircraft, where, on many routes, it says there are no limits at all, but there are no limits only to the reduced pax numbers (meaning it warning shows up less often).  Cargo that can be carried may be severely limited...