Should I be scared -- C172 over Gross

Peter Dohm wrote:
"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message

I got the same impression. God knows a few of us tried to accomplish this
anyway. My read was that hr ended up not making the flight with the pax???

That was my read as well. He still had a front seater and some of the
luggage, which left him comfortably withing both weight and CG limits.

The temperature on the day of the flight was higher that he had hoped when
planning a week ahead and apparently still well within the acceptable range
for the aircraft and airport; but, when combined with a normally rather than
lightly loaded aircraft, resulted in a "bite sized" learning experience.


Given the altitude, the hot weather and the trees it goes to show how
bad things could have gone if the airplane had been more overgross than
expected.


Pax are a dime a dozen, but, who wants to waste a perfectly-good Cessna?

;


-c

"gatt" wrote in message
news:jrudnQw6Ec_OGpPVnZ2dnUVZ_hSdnZ2d@integraonlin e...
Peter Dohm wrote:
"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message

I got the same impression. God knows a few of us tried to accomplish
this anyway. My read was that hr ended up not making the flight with the
pax???

That was my read as well. He still had a front seater and some of the
luggage, which left him comfortably withing both weight and CG limits.

The temperature on the day of the flight was higher that he had hoped
when planning a week ahead and apparently still well within the
acceptable range for the aircraft and airport; but, when combined with a
normally rather than lightly loaded aircraft, resulted in a "bite sized"
learning experience.


Given the altitude, the hot weather and the trees it goes to show how bad
things could have gone if the airplane had been more overgross than
expected.

The point is that he ultimately rose to his responsibility, took command,
and off-loaded the necessary pax and stores. Admittedly, the advice given
early in the thread would have been very well advised--to fly with an
instructor at near maximum weight and near the aft CG limit. However,
personal belief (or supposition if you insist) about the high temperature is
that he had simply trained in a lightly loaded aircraft at cooler
temperatures and actually had a more than adiquate safety margin--it was
simply a different sight picture and he is now a little more experienced and
none the worse for wear.

My own experience was nearly the opposite. I trained mainly in a Cessna
150M, the weather was nearly always warm, and we were probably below gross
by about the weight of whatever trinkets (such as extra pencils) we forgot
to bring. I also had some time in each of the four seats of a Cessna
172--which was also nearly always maxed out. The first time I soloed a 172,
I was really amazed--it climbed like a homesick angel, was reluctant to come
back down, and seemed to nearly stop before the wheels would touch the
pavement on landing.
OK, I exagerate; but probably no worse that the OP's takeoff. :-)


Pax are a dime a dozen, but, who wants to waste a perfectly-good Cessna?

;

Now, there's a good place to restart the Piper vs Cessna debate! ;-)


-c

Peter