Surprised how little a C172/C182 can transport

[barryward12345 0]

For the past several years while simming, I haven't really played around with GA loadings. In the early days, I quickly realised that if you had an unbalanced load in one of the small a/c (say for example, a pilot only) then the Sim engine seemed to exagerate the effects of the imbalance. So generally , I have flown with 2 people in each a/c.Lately, to try to get a better appreciation of just what can be done with different a/c - ie load including fuel - I have come to understand just how little load some of these small GA can carry - for example the Flight1 C172R can only carry 800 lbs of load. It has 4 seats - so if you try to load it up with 4 adults, then you have no room for fuel. Even if you load it with 2 adults and 2 small children , you can't go very far.A very interesting (to me ) situation which I had never fully realised.Barry

[Guest allcott]

In most GA a 4-seat aircraft is really only a 2-seat aircaft - plus a reasonable amount of luggage space.But most GA don't feature onboard lavatory or catering facilities, so 3 hours endurance is plenty - especially if you or your passengers have a 2-hour bladder. :) Allcott

[Guest aca_dia]

Depends on the model and year as well. I used to fly commercial scenic flights in 172N models that had been upgraded from 160hp to 180hp. With those I could have 800+ pounds of payload and full fuel (almost an 1100lb useful load). What I have noticed is that newer versions of old GA airframes are being loaded up with heavy leather seats and advanced avionics and other stuff. All of that means less useful load. In most cases though, even with large aircraft you cant have full fuel and full seats.

[Guest]

Also depends on how well maintained it is. If the skin is not smooth (dents, bad paint, etc.) fuel economy will suffer.

[JimmiG 244]

Just played around with the loadout screen myself. It seems the default C172 carries a lot more than the Flight1 C172R. Not too surprising since the default one is the 172SP 180HP model while the Flight1 172R only has a 160HP engine.Hmm, would it be possible to "upgrade" the Flight1 model to a 172SP without sacrificing realism?

[Guest Shalomar]

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!There is an enhancement including .air file for the default Cessna. RAS172_fs9.zip in Original Aircraft category. It's done by RealAir, heard of them?:-)If you have Flight Sim Manager 2.8, (an 8 meg download from Avsim) go into the editor and alias one of the Flight one's liveries .air file to the RealAir 172. It's quickly, safely and completely reversible. If you like it, you can do it to the other liveries.Best Regards, Donny:-wave

[yellow5 0]

One time I took a Piper Warrior II up for a flight and I had 4 full adults no bags and 3/4 fuel. The weights for the adults were two at about 175lbs and two at about 200lbs. So with the pax and fuel totals I was close if not out of limits. The Warrior handled the weight very well and needless to say I am hear to tell about it. Granted I would never do that again. Just goes to show that the real world is a shade of gray on performance, but simulators are very black and white on weight and balance.Kevin

[Avcomware 1]

Hi, Barry.Some of the 172s, older models, are around 1400 lbs, empty weight, and 2400 max. If you have 4 BIG / around 200 lbs you will be limited to mostly short trips, around the practice / pattern area. If you have a good engine, even at 160 BHP, with some more typical weight, which is 170 for men, 120 for women, you can take some decent trips.The 182Ps are very nice and can take some sizeable people / load, specially if you are in Alaska. They are around 1700 empty with around 2950 ramp. There are a lot of older planes with 300 HP mods, they are very nice. A while back when I went to Alaska I was talking to a pilot tat had a

[Guest Moviedirector20]

Few weeks ago my dad and I took up my friend and her father, so it was essentially 4 adults (dad and I are on the bigger side), with full fuel, outa of a 2500 foot rwy, that was interesting. The stall horn was blaring its head off as we climbed out to a safe altitude to lower the nose. Very fun..

[ahuimanu 50]

Hey, what ever you do, don't put your name in your profile. Your local FSDO will take a keen interest in you. People in these offices LIVE to find out about these things.

[Guest adl320]

Fun, you say? Hmm..Actually, as a pilot, that would get my attention, not in a good way. Really, the classic challange with almost any aircraft design is payload/range. I fly C172 and Diamond DA-20/40s and have NEVER been able to put 4 adults in the airplane with full fuel. Just won't happen unless they all weigh next to nothing. The Full-full useful load of a my particular 172SP is about 540lbs. I weigh a clean 200lbs so that leaves about 340lbs for pax. Keep in mind, you may be "legal" on the weight, but you can easily be outside the CG envelope. Either situation will have you heading towards earth in a hurry if a stall ensues (which, by the way, comes at a much faster airspeed than normal).With your direct experience, perhaps your dad knew that you'd be burning off fuel and would be within limits en-route. Just not a gamble I'd personally want to take though.