Weight and balance, ballast, trim when flying alone

Tina,

Bertie, MX may not be overqualified as ballast.


Ah, but he might start to talk.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Thomas Borchert wrote in
:

Tina,

Bertie, MX may not be overqualified as ballast.


Ah, but he might start to talk.


True..


You'd have to come up with an appropriate method to keep him quiet!

Bertie

On Jan 16, 9:54 am, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Thomas Borchert wrote :

Tina,

Bertie, MX may not be overqualified as ballast.

Ah, but he might start to talk.

True..

You'd have to come up with an appropriate method to keep him quiet!

Bertie

""Computer - this is a Class A Priority Directive: Compute, to the
last digit, the value of pi."
"No - no - no - nooooooo!"

Tina wrote:

Bertie, MX may not be overqualified as ballast. If, for example, I was
PIC (about 130 pounds) with a center of gravity (watch it now, if you
comment on the location of my center of gravity) 18 inches to the left
of centerline, a 260 pound ballast sitting in the back 9 inches to
the right of center would bring things into left and right balance.
There should be enough trim for fore and aft balance. You might assume
I would not invite ballast to sit in front.

Not only that, the last thing you want
is the ballast to move around and make
a mess. Since one of the reasons MX gives
for not flying is no bathroom, I think he
would be unsuitable for ballast, at least
in my plane.

What is your expectation from your simulator experience? Do you need to
laterally balance the plane in MSFS? Since that is all you seem to be
interested in, that's what you should be considering.

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
What is your method for handling weight and balance when you are piloting
a
small aircraft alone? Do you just trim to adjust for the lateral
imbalance,
or do you put something on the other side of the plane (ballast, luggage,
etc.) to balance it out, or what?

John writes:

What is your expectation from your simulator experience?

I expect it to reasonably simulate weight and balance issues, which it does,
but not having flown the real thing, I don't know how accurate the simulation
is. I've read that MSFS tends to exaggerate the W&B effects of unequal
amounts of fuel in the tanks, for example, although I always keep fuel loads
balanced.

Do you need to laterally balance the plane in MSFS?

Yes.

How much does it pitch to the side if you don't put offsetting weight into
the passenger seat and how does it compare to the normal variation caused by
fuel burn from a single side at a time? If you do the math I think you will
see that the moment caused by the fuel burn changes is much higher then the
moment caused by the weight of the passengers so close to the centerline.

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
news
John writes:

What is your expectation from your simulator experience?

I expect it to reasonably simulate weight and balance issues, which it
does,
but not having flown the real thing, I don't know how accurate the
simulation
is. I've read that MSFS tends to exaggerate the W&B effects of unequal
amounts of fuel in the tanks, for example, although I always keep fuel
loads
balanced.

Do you need to laterally balance the plane in MSFS?

Yes.

John writes:

How much does it pitch to the side if you don't put offsetting weight into
the passenger seat and how does it compare to the normal variation caused by
fuel burn from a single side at a time?

I never burn fuel from a single side at a time, so I cannot comment on that.
Both the Bonanza and the Baron let you draw fuel from both tanks, and that's
how I leave it set.

If you are heavy and alone in the plane, it has a distinct tendency to bank
towards the heavy side. The Bonanza does this, anyway, so it's harder to
notice, but the Baron will do it, only not as obviously. When I first started
flying these aircraft I noticed odd banking tendencies and it took a while for
it to dawn on me that the aircraft was simply loaded unevenly.

If you do the math I think you will
see that the moment caused by the fuel burn changes is much higher then the
moment caused by the weight of the passengers so close to the centerline.

No doubt, but I don't alternate tanks.

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

John writes:

How much does it pitch to the side if you don't put offsetting weight
into the passenger seat and how does it compare to the normal
variation caused by fuel burn from a single side at a time?

I never burn fuel from a single side at a time,


You never burn anything , fjukkwit.


Bertie

On Jan 15, 9:20 pm, Mxsmanic wrote:
I never burn fuel from a single side at a time, so I cannot comment on that.
Both the Bonanza and the Baron let you draw fuel from both tanks, and that's
how I leave it set.

If you are heavy and alone in the plane, it has a distinct tendency to bank
towards the heavy side. The Bonanza does this, anyway, so it's harder to
notice, but the Baron will do it, only not as obviously. When I first started
flying these aircraft I noticed odd banking tendencies and it took a while for
it to dawn on me that the aircraft was simply loaded unevenly.

You can run one tank dry in a Bonanza and have the other at 35 gallons
and only need 1/4 twist of the aileron trim to keep things balanced. I
haven't tried draining one side tank and tip tank, though, but that's
not the recommended procedure IAW the STC, so I won't be trying it.

I doubt there is a Bonanza flying with a "Both" selection.

If you're "flying" in MSFS, the aerodynamic positive stability
tendencies are exaggerated to make it less off putting for non-pilots.

I can always tell when I'm flying with a MSFS Pilot -- they flare
high, fixate on the instruments, and have poor coordination.

The real value to a real pilot of MSFS is practicing certain (albeit
limited) procedures, lesson preview and review, approach practice, and
assistance in acquiring an ear for ATC communications.

You're not really flying, though.

Dan
http://trainingforcfi.blogspot.com/