CHanging weight loadout??

[Guest bfindlay]

How do you adjust the loading of the airplane? I would like to try flights at full gross, full baggage etc., but I don't see any way to accomplish this. Is Weight and Balance not modeled in FS?

[David Vega 348]

Check out ACLoader at http://fsflightdeck.com/Dave Vega

[Guest bfindlay]

THanks - I am taking a look now, but it appears to be relevant to only Large Jet aircraft. I only fly small GA, and just want to 'fill the seats' and baggage, and see the difference in flight performance.Will give AC loader a shot though.From what I can see, the simple answer to my question is 'NO'! :-( Dang, such a crucial element as weight and balance, and it appears to be 'statically modelled' in aircraft.cfg files, but nowhere in the program can we set it! :-(

[Guest panzerschiffe]

What I do for my MD-11 is that I set the weight in the aircraft.cfg for the empty weight. Then I use station loads to tell FS esxactly where each individual weight is. I can set a station load for the pilot, co pilot, cargo container, ballast, basically anything that might be loaded unto the aircraft. Using station loads involves understand how the aircraft's coordinate system works. For many planes the reference point is a point about 1/4 of the way back along the wing's chord. Let's say I want to place a station load for the pilot. I use this line:station_load.0 = 185, 85, -3, 6.4This is the first load in the list (load.0), the weight is 185 pounds, and it is located 85 feet forward, 3 feet to port, and 6.4 feet above the reference point. The places the pilot right where he should be in the cockpit of the MD-11 (the reference point being way back in the main wing). [WEIGHT_AND_BALANCE]max_gross_weight = 0empty_weight = 249200reference_datum_position = 0, 0, 0empty_weight_CG_position = 0, 0, 0empty_weight_pitch_MOI = 12380443empty_weight_roll_MOI = 3964190empty_weight_yaw_MOI = 11261434empty_weight_coupled_MOI = 1800max_number_of_stations = 62Here's what the beginning of my weights and balance section looks like. I leave max gross weight as zero, but in my mind I know that MTOW for this particular aircraft is 630,500 pounds. Then I set the empty weight, 249,200 pounds. In this case, the reference point is the same as the empty CG point (both 0, 0, 0). The CG point is also a visual reference point. This is the point in the model the spot view rotates around in FS. In some planes, the reference point is placed at the aircraft's nose. The MOI are some numbers related to the aircraft's tendency to roll, pitch, and yaw, and these are a whole nother discussion. Then I set the maximum number of station loads I want FS to consider, in this case, 62. Then I started adding the station loads. AC Loader can do this for you, based on its presets. There is a payware program called aircraft container manager (www.aircraftmanager.com)that renders the model so you can place these station loads visually. Otherwise you'll have to just use your noodle in placing the loads correctly. I used these to load up an MD-11 with 32 cargo containers in an real world arrangement. Obviously with a small GA aircraft this will be easier.

[Guest Scott Campbell]

Good day to you. If you haven't visited the Flight Deck site lately, V4 has been released and will correctly load and balance GA aircaft as well as airliners. There have been many enhancements and improvements to the program in general since V3.4.