Definition
The maximum aircraft weight a runway pavement is rated to support, expressed in thousands of pounds and broken down by landing gear configuration (single-wheel, dual-wheel, dual-tandem, etc.). The values are published on airport diagrams and in the Chart Supplement so pilots can confirm a runway is structurally suitable for their aircraft.
Plain English
How much aircraft weight the runway is built to handle, listed by the type of landing gear underneath the airplane.
Context Anchor
Seen on airport diagrams, airport sketches, and airport information pages when checking whether a runway can safely support a particular aircraft.
Derivation
"Weight bearing" simply means "able to carry weight." The phrase comes from civil engineering, where every paved surface has a load limit based on its construction. Aviation borrowed the term directly because runways are engineered structures with the same concerns as bridges or roads.
Why Pilots Care
Prevents runway damage and ensures safe operations when aircraft weight approaches structural limits.
Analogy
A heavy person may sink into soft ground in narrow shoes but not in snowshoes because the same weight is spread over a larger area. Aircraft landing gear works the same way: how the wheels spread the weight affects what the runway can support.
Intuition Check
Do not read “bearing” here as a direction. Here, “bearing” means supporting the aircraft’s weight on the runway surface.
Example Sentence 1
Before flying the chartered turboprop into the small regional field, the pilot checked the runway weight bearing capacity to confirm it could handle the aircraft's dual-wheel gear at full load.
Example Sentence 2
Runway 18R lists a weight bearing capacity of 200000 pounds for dual-tandem gear.