that we could poss get around half gallon of fuel approx 3lbs on board
,not
even enough to deal with start up and shut down . Whilst i understand
weight
is an issue ,i was amazed to see this . My instructor is very light -
150lbs
and my passenger was 224lbs.I have many large framed friends who i have
told
i will take for a jolly , now i've got to ask them to lose a few pounds
before we can fly..

Surely the problem is weight rather than balance -- as the fuel is behind
the mast you'd be better to have more rather than less fuel to move the CG
backwards unless weight was the issue. I remember my problem was compounded
with aft cyclic movement issues due to my beer gut :-)

We ended up changing to an older machine that has the 320 engine that is
lighter and managed to go for a short flight,still being restricted to a
light fuel load .

Strange -- I had always thought the HP had the battery in the front (or was
that just the Mariner)? I seem to remember HPs "kneel down" more on lifting
than the later Beta 2.

Solution? Type conversion to an R44....

Regards
Andrew (who learned to fly at 240lbs with a 170 lb tutor and not much more
than a prayer in the tank :-)

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