System and method for payload transportation

A system comprising:

• an aerial vehicle comprising:
• a fuselage;
• a storage region positioned longitudinally within the fuselage, the storage region configured for receiving and transporting a payload;
• a forward wing mounted to the fuselage;
• an aft wing mounted to the fuselage, wherein the forward wing and aft wing are configured to accommodate at least a 20% deviation in center of gravity associated with a payload of the aerial vehicle;
• an array of powered lift devices, each powered lift device of the array of powered lift devices coupled to the fuselage between the forward wing and the aft wing;
• a forward thrust generating device;
• an integral subsystem comprising a set of weight sensing devices that measure and report vertical ground reaction forces acting on the aerial vehicle, wherein a housing of the integral subsystem is designed such that application of non-vertical loads to the aerial vehicle does not interfere with accurate measurement of said vertical ground reaction forces, and wherein the set of weight sensing devices report signals informative of innately redundant and flight critical binary loaded or unloaded statuses of the aerial vehicle;
• and
• a conveying subsystem configured to autonomously transfer the payload to and from the storage region, to autonomously position the payload to satisfy a weight and balance criterion, and to autonomously secure the payload in preparation for and to increase safety of flight of the aerial vehicle.