"Troy Towner" wrote in
om:

Ehh don't forget you'll need to update the weight and balance for the
minor seatbelt adjustment.. ahah just giving you a hard time..

One thing I found really helps out for the many 172's I fly is a
weight and balance spreadsheet I created. I basically open up the
excel spreadsheet enter the fuel I am going to use, the weight of all
passengers, luggage, oil etc.. and there it comes out with all the
data in a heart beat. And look right below the spreadsheet is the
weight and balance envelope, inserted into the file. My calculations
are right, yet if on the edge I would recommend rechecking with a
notepad and pencil...

What I did was buy a black smaller size 3-ring notebook. I filled it with
lined paper and a few clear paper holders. In the paper holders I put a)
shrunk printouts of the aircraft checklists; b) a sheet with local
frequencies; c) a sheet which is a printout of the most common loading
problems for W&B: full fuel, full 'std 170lb' passengers, and remaining
luggage to bring a/c up to max gross; tabs fuel + max passengers possible
+ luggage to make up difference, etc.

In this way I always know the range of W&B tolerances I can take without
redoing the problem every time. In our Cherokee 140 (not a weight hauler,
I know), we can take full fuel, 2 170lb pilots, and 80 lbs luggage and
fly for 4 hrs + reserve; or we can take 3-170lb adults, tab fuel, and 15
lbs luggage.

I store one of the aircraft keys in this notebook, along with a
mechanical pencil. The other aircraft key is on my regular key ring, so I
always have a spare.

Tim Long
CMA, CA