In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, in the wake of worldwide travel restrictions and a general fear of flying, there were countless stories of planes running at near-empty capacity.
In fact, some flights consisted of more crew than passengers.
That might sound like a dream come true but, in fact, it poses a danger.
The Federal Aviation Administration is warning airlines that aircraft significantly lower in weight or those that have been parked and unused for weeks, if not months, have 'unusual factors' that need to be closely monitored.
The agency found that one nearly empty passenger jet "climbed like a rocket" on takeoff, exceeding the assigned altitude, according to Bloomberg News Service. Several other planes have scraped their tails on takeoff, with compromises in balancing weight, while others still have drifted off course.
The Commercial Aviation Safety Team, comprised of the FAA, unions and airline officials, last month issued more than 50 warnings to carriers on the unusual factors they need to monitor during the recent industry disruptions, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg.
They include tracking safety data related to unusually light aircraft, the stresses from employees fearing they could become infected by Covid-19 and possible fuel contamination on planes that were parked.
"These dynamic changes are creating stress points on our systems and processes," the group said in one of the documents.
In addition, pilots may have missed training sessions during the time when tens of thousands of flights were canceled. Some reported that unusually light airliners behaved unexpectedly, including a failure to maintain cabin air pressure, while others admitted the boarding process went so fast they forgot to finish safety paperwork.
"Despite the challenging circumstances, the agency continues to provide the same high level of safety oversight of airlines and other operators that the public expects and deserves," the FAA said in a statement. "We are closely monitoring the data we receive from voluntary reporting systems and have increased the number of information-sharing meetings we're holding with operators."
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