Load controller
The specialist who calculates the aircraft's weight and balance and issues the loadsheet the captain must accept before departure.
Definition
The load controller calculates the aircraft's take-off weight and centre of gravity from the passenger, baggage, cargo and fuel figures and produces the loadsheet — the legal document the captain signs to confirm the aircraft is within limits. Passengers are counted by zone, which is why the cabin's seated distribution matters, and last-minute changes have to be fed back before the doors close. Load control is often centralised at a remote hub serving many airports.
What it means for you
The loadsheet is why you count heads by zone and why the purser cannot let passengers move rows on a lightly loaded flight until the figures are confirmed. A late count change is a real delay cause, and on a small aircraft the difference between the counted and actual distribution can move the trim outside limits, so the tedious head-count procedures exist for a reason.
In practice
On a half-empty easyJet A320 the purser holds passengers in their allocated rows until the loadsheet is accepted, because a dozen people drifting to the empty exit rows changes the trim the captain has just signed for.
Related terms
4 terms- DispatcherRoles & ranksTwo jobs share the name: the licensed planner who prepares and co-signs each flight, and the ground coordinator running a turnaround.
- Ground staffRoles & ranksEveryone who works a flight from the ground — check-in, gate, ramp, loading, cleaning and fuelling — as opposed to the operating crew.
- BoardingFlight operationsThe period from the first passenger stepping aboard until the door closes — the busiest and, historically, least paid part of the job.
- Push-backFlight operationsThe moment a tug pushes the aircraft off the stand — doors closed and armed, cabin secure, and the clock on block time starts.