After a couple of sentences with a client, I know exactly whether it’s a standard weight and balance requirement or an actual issue. Can I do it? Sure. If I know where a certain item stands in the aircraft, how big it is, or how heavy it is, I can sort it out.

But this realization stems from a massive gap in how airlines handle their crucial documentation.

In many airlines, weight and balance documents are done by the chief pilot, the chief flight dispatcher, or anybody but an actual weight and balance expert or engineer.

Consider this disparity:

This lack of regular practice leads to problems, human errors, typos in information, and inadequate data. It happens very often that I get back to someone and ask, “Are you sure that…?”

Very often, they are not. In fact, they usually thank me for spotting the issue. I am not here to criticize anybody—my colleagues do a great piece of work—but the difference in exposure is huge. Practice truly makes perfect.

I work on very demanding systems that require a high volume of information to function correctly. Very often, details that are crucial to my workflow are not even present on the standard documents.

How do I solve this? I find the missing data anyway. I dig through:

You name it, I’ve got it. Just remember: rocket science is only rocket science for everybody else, but it’s just another day for rocket scientists.