Definition
The aircraft's gross weight divided by the total wing area, usually expressed in pounds per square foot. It indicates how much weight each square foot of wing must support in flight.
Plain English
How much weight the wings have to carry, spread across their area. A higher number means each part of the wing is working harder to keep the airplane up.
Context Anchor
Encountered in discussions of landing performance, approach speed, stall speed, and how an airplane feels during the approach and touchdown.
Derivation
Loading comes from load, meaning the weight or burden being carried. In aviation, wing loading means the load carried by the wings, spread across the wing area.
Why Pilots Care
Higher wing loading raises stall speed and requires faster approach and landing speeds, directly affecting runway length needed and handling margins.
Grounding Statement
If the airplane is heavier but the wing size has not changed, each part of the wing has more weight to carry.
Intuition Check
Wing loading does not mean baggage or fuel stored inside the wings. It means airplane weight compared with wing area.
Example Sentence 1
Because the airplane had higher wing loading than the trainer she learned in, the approach speed was noticeably faster.
Example Sentence 2
Increased fuel weight raised the wing loading and therefore increased the minimum safe approach speed.