<< >> NASA ASRS Report 1738713, March 2020

Air carrier captain reported that due to weight and balance needs; the operations agent directed passengers on a nearly empty flight to sit close together; violating social distancing requirements. The captain suggested that weight and balance be reworked to allow appropriate spacing between passengers.

Attributes
ACN	1738713
Time
Date	202003
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 90 Flight Crew Type 9753
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Weight And Balance

Narrative:

The passengers were directed to sit in the first 10 rows thereby making social distancing impossible on a mostly empty flight. The operations agent could have worked the weight and balance more carefully and allowed the passengers to spread out evenly to provide appropriate social distance.operations agents need to be directed to distribute bags and cargo to allow social distancing. Passengers [were] forced into close contact by weight and balance.

Related reports:

• Bur controller described event when sct failed to provide ap...
• A320 captain addressed the need for environmentally appropri...

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web www.37000feet.com

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported that due to weight and balance needs; the Operations Agent directed passengers on a nearly empty flight to sit close together; violating social distancing requirements. The Captain suggested that weight and balance be reworked to allow appropriate spacing between passengers.

Narrative: The passengers were directed to sit in the first 10 rows thereby making social distancing impossible on a mostly empty flight. The Operations Agent could have worked the weight and balance more carefully and allowed the passengers to spread out evenly to provide appropriate social distance.Operations Agents need to be directed to distribute bags and cargo to allow social distancing. Passengers [were] forced into close contact by weight and balance.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.