Back in the Old Days (pre-PC) keeping an equipment list up to date was a royal
pain in the labonza. Usually, the mechanic doing the installation would do a
scratchpaper add-subtract-divide calculation and then enter this information
into the logbook as a "new weight = XXXX new CG = yyyy" and let it go at that.

Mechanics are not renowned for their mathematical aptitude. It is every bit as
likely that somewhere along the line the old equipment got added twice and the
new stuff was subtracted once, or some other permutation of wrongness.

Given a program like Excel, it is really rather trivial (trivial = a full day
plus a sixpack) to do a spreadsheet that STARTS with the original factory list,
making sure that the weight and CG match the original calculations, and then two
other subgroups: everything that was ADDED, and everything that was REMOVED.
Don't try to shortcut the system by noting that a Kinko Loudenboomer MK-XII was
installed in 1985 and removed in 1990 and thus a wash. Put it both in the ADDED
and REMOVED sections, noting the dates of both transactions. The date is
important so that anybody trying to validate your data can see that you really
combed the logbooks to note every instance of a change of any sort.

Yeah, I do inexpensive owner assisted annuals, but my owner requirements for
paperwork are a bitch. I will NOT sign one off until the aforementioned
equipment list summation is done and kept up to date.

Jav, can you confirm this?

If I get a half-dozen or so requests here, I'll post a sample W&B spreadsheet
for the company 182 on the website. Feel free to download it and use it for
your own aircraft

Jim



"O. Sami Saydjari"
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

-In the documentation set that I received with my aircraft (PA28R-201T),
-I found an "Eqipment List" that does not seem to have been kept up to
-date. I also have a document with the original equipment list that came
-with the aircraft when it was born. My latest weight and balance also
-has equipment information on it.
-
-Is there a definitive place where a definitive list is supposed to be
-kept. Is it part of the required documentation that an aircarft is
-required to have with it? Is the list supposed to include serial
-numbers along with model numbers?
-
--Sami
-N2057M, Piper Turbo Arrow III

Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com