What is a Payload-Range Diagram?

A typical payload-range diagram looks like this: There is aircraft range along the horizontal axis and payload carried along the vertical axis. What are they used for? As a Pilot First and foremost a pilot can look at an aircraft’s payload range diagram and confirm that an aircraft is able to achieve a given mission, i.e. can fly a give combination of payload and range. Everything within the three lines is an achievable payload-range mission combination for a particular aircraft and everything outside is not. When flying close to the boundary pilots may have to pay close attention to make sure Continue Reading