Newps wrote:

You're talking empty weight. Gross weight is the max the airplane can
weigh.

No, I'm not. That's part of the problem. It is completely reasonable to
expect, with work that involves neither airframe nor powerplant, that the
gross weight won't change (even though empty weight has). But is it
*legal* to operate under that assumption, or must a new W&B list the "new"
gross weight even if it is not changed?

It appears, from some of the other postings, that a new W&B need not
describe the gross weight if it's not altered. I (and some others) have
merely been "spoiled" by always seeing the gross weight on any W&B.

- Andrew