Fly in and out of KEYW on a Delta Airlines 737 and you'll find out about weight and balance real quickly. It's a good thing that one doesn't need much more than one tee shirt, a bathing suit, shorts and a pair of flip flops to visit Key West.

If the discussion has come down to filling out a weight & balance sheet before every flight.................then no, I didn't.  As a builder of my aircraft, I had to calculate sheet after sheet of weight & balance reports using many variations of pilot, passenger, cargo & fuel. Oil is included beforehand. Considering that pilot & passenger sat in a seat position over the main wing spar, which is similar to a pilot & passenger sitting under the straight line spar area of a two seat side by side Cessna 152, it's now more a matter of gross weight, than a CG shift. I always knew well in advance, to what the conditions would be, and if it's in the allowable fore & aft CG distance.  Since 95% of my flying was in high altitude mountain areas, gross weight and temp.,  was of high consideration. That's one major reason of wanting a high performance kitplane, that had three times the climb performance of a little Cessna. I knew lots of people who were wiped out in high density altitude climb outs during the hot part of the day.  Density altitude in my plane, was much less of a problem.

to put this to bed, i dug out my Pilot's Operating Handbook for my Cessna 150. The variables which affect weight and balance calculations are:

 

1 Empty Basic Weight (Use the data pertaining to your airplane as it is presently equipped. Incluse unuseable fuel and full oil.)

2 Useable Fuel (At 6 gals/gal)
* Long Range Tanks (35 Gal Maximum)
* Reduced Fuel (As limited by maximum weight)

3 Pilot and Passenger (Station 33 to 41)

4 Baggage a Area 1 (Or passenger on child's seat)
* (Station 50 to 76, 120Lbs max)

5 Baggage - Area 2 (Station 74 to 94, 40 Lbs Max)

 

Those variables don't include  "altitude and temperature" nor "weather change can impact on the weight you can take into the air; runway requirements differ every single time - wet grass creates considerably more drag than dry tarmac. Long wet grass more so. Now think long wet grass, with an uphill takeoff run." They may be taken account of elsewhere, but in not in the weight and balance calculations,

Gerry.

 

You simply cannot be a real pilot.

Tell me what's wrong about my post #33, rather than descending to ad hominem arguments -  which means responding to arguments by attacking a person's character, rather than to the content of their arguments

Gerry.

 

You simply cannot be a real pilot.

Those many pages of W&B calcs I did to certify the plane I built, didn't include temp, weather, or density altitude either.

 

That's all in the performance specs that were originally tested by the kit planes test pilots. I only verified that my plane flew simularly.

 

Are some trying to combine weight and balance with performance which varies with choice of engine, density altitude, humidity,wind,and flying weight, as if it's part of W&B? Because it isn't.

 

 

Are some trying to combine weight and balance with performance which varies with choice of engine, density altitude, humidity,wind,and flying weight, as if it's part of W&B? Because it isn't.

 

Always nice when someone with experience steps in.