Definition
The empty weight of an aircraft as recorded on its original Aircraft Specification or Type Certificate Data Sheet, consisting of the airframe, engines, and all permanently installed equipment, including unusable fuel, undrainable oil (for older aircraft), and full operating fluids except usable fuel and engine oil.
Plain English
The weight of the airplane on the day it left the factory, with everything bolted to it but without the fuel and oil you'd actually use in flight. It's the starting weight listed on the airplane's original paperwork.
Context Anchor
Seen in weight-and-balance records, older aircraft manuals, and loading calculations for some airplanes.
Derivation
Licensed' here refers to the weight recorded when the aircraft was first licensed (certificated) by the FAA. It is the empty weight as it was officially documented at that moment, not a current or recalculated figure.
Why Pilots Care
It is the fixed starting point for every weight and balance calculation; using the wrong value can place the aircraft outside legal limits before flight even begins.
Intuition Check
Do not read licensed empty weight as “the weight of a licensed airplane with nothing in it.” It means the approved recorded empty weight before adding the flight load.
Example Sentence 1
The licensed empty weight on the original data sheet was 1,340 pounds, but after the avionics upgrade the current empty weight is 1,372 pounds.
Example Sentence 2
Before the preflight briefing, the instructor checked the aircraft records to confirm the licensed empty weight listed for that specific airplane.