US Patent 7945422 Tire pressure augmented aircraft weight and balance system and method

A weight and balance system for accurately determining gross weight of an aircraft. The present invention integrates tire pressure measurements with strut pressure measurements to overcome the problem associated with the friction in the strut seals, and simultaneously overcome the problem with the large number of variables associated with using tire pressure measurement to determine load (weight on wheels). An example system includes a plurality of strut pressure sensors that generate strut pressure data for landing gear struts of the aircraft and a plurality of tire pressure sensors that generate tire pressure data for tires of the aircraft. A processing device that is in data communication with the strut and tire pressure sensors determines gross weight and center of gravity of the aircraft based on the received strut and tire pressure data.