Weight and Balance

[Melly]

I'm hoping someone can help me with this. I'm trying to do my weight and balance, and I'm not getting it.

How can I find my moment arms?

and if you have a weight and balance like

weight Balance
aircraft empty: 1552 57424
pilot and passenger 370 13320
passenger in rear 140 9800
baggage 120 11400
fuel 330 15840
oil 15 -225
------------ ----------
2527 107559

I know that I divide 107559/and 2527=42.5

then what should I do?

 

[bobbysamd]

Weight & Balance

I have a question for you. Where's your flight instructor? Shame on him/her. You shouldn't have to go to a message board to get help with a weight and balance problem when you're paying your instructor good money to teach you these things.

42.5 is your Center of Gravity ("CG"). Now that you've arrived at that figure, look it up on your weight and balance chart in your POH. See where 42.5 falls. If your CG falls anywhere within the envelope, then it is within the airplane's operating limits.

Don't forget the teeter-totter example that you learned in ground school. Weight (meaning the weight of the commodity in question) x Arm (the distance the Weight is situated from the Datum, the arbitrary reference point on the airplane from which distance is measured - frequently the airplane's firewall) = Moment. As you observed, Moment divided by Weight = 42.5, which is the CG.

Hope that helps.

 

[Melly]

weight and balance

Well, actually its not my instructors fault.....It's mostly mine. The reason for that being is, I had quit flying for a long while.....and I was beginning to get back into it.

I was working on my weight and balance as well as everything else to see how much I knew, before I went to my flight school.

But thank you for the insite and the help.

 

[eriknorth]

WAM

...And I don't mean George Michael.

 

[bobbysamd]

WAM

What does "WAM" mean?

 

[eriknorth]

WAM

Weight x Arm = Moment

It's a memory aid. Sorry, I thought it was more well known than it is. It helps, though.

 

[bobbysamd]

Wake Me Up When You Go-Go

WAM

Weight x Arm = Moment

It's a memory aid. Sorry, I thought it was more well known than it is. It helps, though.

Thank you. Good mnmonic. I thought it was George Michael time.