FSAirlines

I had an idea on a different way to manage cargo on small aircraft, where seats can easily be removed/folded so that cargo can be put in its place.

The idea is basically this, for aircraft designated as 'convertible' the cargo capacity of these aircraft would be set to the maximum allowed by the MZFW, but would be reduced by 77 kg for every economy seat installed. Larger business and first class seats would reduce the capacity by more as they would use up more of the volume of the aircraft (see the Business Class Factor and First Class Factor in the aircraft specifications).

Most aircraft with a dow less than 5000 kg would get this new designation along with some larger aircraft that have been used in that way.

That would more closely match real world operations where they move seats in / out as needed on demand and fill the rest with cargo. Cessna 206, 207, 208, Daher/Quest Kodiak are the 4 most used "bush charter" type aircraft .... Super Cubs, 172's, 182's - you don't really have a lot to play with to start in terms of usuable cargo space. PC-12's are also sold as "highly convertible to fit the mission requirement". I'm sure the Beaver/Otter/Twin Otter family would be convertible as well, but that is just an assumption.

Aircraft like the Beechcraft KingAir 350i are so expensive, they usually come with luxury VIP interiors and are not convertible for cargo only operations but if someone really wanted to spend that kind of money for a vanilla interior that is convertible, I guess it would not be out of the question.

I think for the most part, the average dash-8 and ATR are not configured as QC aircraft. There are a couple of the older 737's are including 737-200QC, 737-300QC, 737-400QC and would include surplus aircraft that are commonly used as bush aircraft (DC-3, C-46, Lodestar, AN-2). I had not thought about the King Airs having high end interiors that did not lend themselves to quick conversions. Do we say convertible aircraft can't have 'first class' seats installed?

The smaller aircraft is also something I had not considered. I had started working on a list and I had excluded all aircraft with fewer than two passengers but Sam, do you consider that the back seats in a 172 could not be folded down and a few packages put back there for hauling into the bush?

Looking at the max payload (as defined as MZFW - DOW) the C172 can carry 384 kg, the C182 can carry 438 kg and the C206 can carry 500 kg. Not sure how we would decide which of those can and can not carry more payload. I would think that for aircraft that allow one pilot, the second seat could not be removable . We generally assume the pilot is part of the DOW but I am sure Cessna does not include them in there numbers.