FAA probes Southwest calculations of baggage weight on jets

Associated Press

Federal officials have told Southwest Airlines to fix the way it calculates the weight of luggage loaded on flights after finding frequent mistakes during a yearlong investigation.

Southwest said today it has made improvements in its methods for calculating the weight and balance of loads, and that it isn't facing enforcement action.

The airline said it voluntarily reported the issue to the Federal Aviation Administration last year.

The FAA investigation was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper said internal FAA documents showed the airline made frequent mistakes in calculations and luggage-loading practices that could cause errors when pilots compute their plane's takeoff weight.

Southwest crews count bags they load and use an average weight to calculate the load. The FAA found cases in which the bag load was more than 1,000 pounds heavier than paperwork indicated, the newspaper reported.

FAA inspectors believed pilots might respond incorrectly to an engine emergency if they had inaccurate information about the distribution of weight between front and rear cargo bays.

An FAA spokesman told The Associated Press the agency opened an investigation in February 2018. Since then, he said, the FAA directed the airline to develop a comprehensive fix to the methods and processes it uses to determine baggage weight.