The article was describing a current type AC - maybe waaaaay back when you were around -100’s/200’s/300’s they didn’t have them - so you also fly with the CG in the back seat as well???
” maybe waaaaay back when you were around -100’s/200’s/300’s they didn’t have them”
LOL! You’re right. I have been around for a long time. Well, those aircraft didn’t have tailskids/skidplates then, and they don’t have them now. You are aware that the -300’s have a fairly high population on the airways. My guess is the last -100 has gone to the salvage yard in the US, and the -200’s have begun the process as well. But they were nice aircraft from a pilot’s standpoint, and the -200’s with -17’s were repectable. In any event, there are, and were, Boeings without tailskids/skidplates. Chances are pretty good that you’ve ridden on at least a -300 if you fly very much. If you haven’t noticed them, you don’t fly very much.
” - so you also fly with the CG in the back seat as well???”
And in the aft or forward baggage area also. Big airplane, little airplane, you may not throw the bags, but a CG problem is yours alone when the gear comes off the ground. Any pro pilot that says he hasn’t flown an aircraft out of CG, ain’t a pro pilot. Oh I suppose it’s possible that a low time/inexperienced pilot might never have flown out of CG, but he hasn’t flown much, and he certainly doesn’t make a living at it. Things happen over three or four decades. Not much new, but it keeps happening.
In the real world of aviation, one learns that all is not as we might wish. But if we don’t want to be “surprised”, we pay attention to what has been a problem for others, and what WILL go wrong in the future. I’m sure you’re well aware that not everything goes “by the book” on an aircraft. When you’re in the pointy end, it’s nice to have an extensive mental library of potential disasters, just so you’re still around to remember the specifics after they try to happen to you.
Keep your eyes open so you have fewer bad memories, when/if you get old. ;-)