how you can learn something anywhere, like on the tarmac at the jfk international airport

i flew jet blue back to san francisco this morning. it was a brand new plane. that is, we were the first passengers to ever fly on this marvel, the newest in airline transporation technology.

and yet, they had to pull someone off the plane for "weight balance".

huh?

so i got home and googled what that meant.

here you go, from nasa:

If the object has its weight distributed equally throughout, its balance point is located at its geometric center. If the object has unequal weight distribution, its balance point or its center of gravity may not be at its geometric center.

The force that opposes the force of weight for an aircraft is lift. The lift force must be greater than the weight for an airplane to fly.

For an aircraft, it is important that the location of the center of gravity fall within the limits specified by the design of the aircraft. If it falls outside these limits, it will have adverse effects on how the airplane will fly.

so that's what i learned.

and i also learned that the 135-pound woman who volunteered to get off the plane made all the difference in the world. if she would not have gotten off, we never would have gotten off the ground, i guess. right?

right?

that's how much we were off.

you would think a brand new plane would have had that figured out.

weird.