Weight and balance, ballast, trim when flying alone

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?

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

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?


Why, you thinking of becoming ballast?

you're overqualified.



Bertie

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?

On Jan 15, 9:53*am, Mxsmanic wrote:
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?

What a very, very odd question. I don't believe I've ever been asked
such a question by a student before.
-Robert, CFII

On Jan 15, 11:53*am, Mxsmanic wrote:
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?

LOL.

Oh that's a good one. Sheet ...

Mxsmanic wrote:
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?

Just tilt your big fat head to the high side, and stick a book under
your monitor to compensate.

Mxsmanic wrote:
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?

While I'm sure you are going to argue some point of this response I'll
post for those that come later.

It completely depends on the plane. In a 172 it really isn't an issue.
Fuel burns out of each wing tank at about the same rate and I've never
noticed a difference in need for aileron trim with two as opposed to
one. Which is a could thing because I've never seen a 172 with aileron trim.

On the 601XL I'm building most builders are installing aileron trim
because with just one person on-board some of the planes are a little
left wing heavy.

Also on planes that don't draw fuel equally from both wings you have to
switch tanks to keep the aircraft balanced. 150 lbs of fuel 4 feet out
on the wing has a LOT more effect on the balance of the aircraft than
200 lbs of meat near the center line.

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:

Why, you thinking of becoming ballast?

you're overqualified.

Bertie

niiiice...

actually some of these are pretty good.

"underqualified" might be what I'd expect from you, yip.

--
Message posted via AviationKB.com
http://www.aviationkb.com/Uwe/Forums...ation/200801/1

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.

Robert M. Gary writes:

What a very, very odd question. I don't believe I've ever been asked
such a question by a student before.

Is that why you haven't answered it?