Is it not possible to fly the Boeing 717 with no cargo or passengers? The upper limit for the COG is 34.7, but to get down to a value just below that I have to fill the forward cargo hold (1814kgs) and add 5 passengers! Is that correct, or am I missing something?

Are there no other TFDi Design 717 pilots around here?

It wouldn't be unheard of to have to fly with Ballast.  There are quite a few aircraft that can't fly around empty. Think of where the wings are, the CG is already sitting really far aft, especially at a higher duel load I bet this aircraft gets really AFT really quick.

The Leonardo Madog is the same way, doesn't like being empty. I had to throw in ballast yesterday to 'ferry' a plane.  You can look at the PMDG 74. The BCF specifically, if I remember they don't like being empty either (atleast in real life). In general the 74 doesn't like light weight and aft CG anyways.

I am a recently retired very frequent Delta flyer, for the last 2 years we have all 717 all the time from MLB. I've seen an empty ferry back to ATL once or twice and every time they load a lot of ballast, just like CRJ 200's with a light load. And they always load it forward, not aft.

Edited October 1, 20196 yr by gsand