@whitequark @chrisvest and even just from passive consumption of ACARS Drama it seems clear that aircraft are fuelled to significantly different levels depending on the passenger load.
(although I did also know this from other sources)
@gsuberland @chrisvest meatbags: fuckin heavy, actually
@whitequark @chrisvest related: a lot of lift weight capacities are actually pretty terrifying when you do the numbers. very easy to overload a lot of them with just a few tall heavily built people. and the safety margins on a lot of them are... uh... degraded.
@gsuberland @chrisvest huh. well, that's one more thing i'll proceed to not think about
@whitequark @chrisvest the good news is that there are like 4 redundant safety mechanisms to prevent plummets, and a couple of them are effective far beyond the stated weight capacity, even with worst-case dynamic loads. but the experience of stepping into an aging lift that barely had the capacity for two people when first installed, and feeling it drop a full 6 inches, is deeply alarming.
