Any light plane will fly when overloaded. Usually they can get off the
ground at about 1.5 times max gross, and this is sometimes done for
overseas ferry flights. You know from your experience in that Cessna 150
how this affects the performance -- long takeoff runs and poor climb
rates. Sometimes the W&B envelope gets narrower at high loadings also.
IMO, this is not a margin or fudge-factor.

Thanks, George.

I guess it all comes down to what you're comfortable with, and what your
plane will do. I've flown my 235 at gross many times, without difficulty,
which always makes me wonder what the REAL capability of the plane is...

With our plane, though, we run out of internal room long before we run out
of weight-carrying capacity. It's a nice change, after all those years of
sweating weight and balance.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"