I wonder if gluing strain gauges to the landing gear struts would be accurate enough once calibrated.
There has been at least one crash due to mis-estimating the weight of the passengers + luggage + cargo. A strain gauge on the struts, even if inaccurate, could provide a backup sanity check for the weights.
As I joined FedEx, I was told that
they had already worked out sensors,
of some kind (I never saw details),
on the landing gear that would give
the data needed for knowing and
controlling
weight and balance.
For balance, right, e.g., don't want all the
weight near the tail and, instead, want
the weight more evenly distributed
in the cargo area along the length of
the plane, that is, want the
load in balance.
So, yes, FedEx did think of having
sensors, of some kind, in the
landing gear.
But I never heard more about
such sensors, and, for the times I
rode the jump seat in the planes,
I never saw pilots working
with weight and balance from
data from the landing gear.
Maybe later, after I went to
grad school, FedEx did do something
with such sensors.
So, right, the sensors are a good idea
and were considered and, maybe, eventually
implemented.
They could put something in the ground - a weigh station - that the plane travels over before getting to the runway. That avoids the need for modifying airside equipment which is a bureaucratic nightmare.
There has been at least one crash due to mis-estimating the weight of the passengers + luggage + cargo. A strain gauge on the struts, even if inaccurate, could provide a backup sanity check for the weights.