Tom Gardner wrote:
On Jan 31, 5:06 pm, "Dan G" wrote:
A friend of mine weighs just 110lbs with parachute. With ballast, she
can fly some K13s and a couple of wooden single-seaters which have
particularly low cockpit min weights.

Which GRP single-seaters tend to have low min weights, and how much is
it?

I guess that person is also small, so are there any examples of
adding
extra weight in the form of a "very heavy cushion" between the pilot
and the seat? Perhaps a very heavy cushion could be fashioned from
lead or rubber sheeting, and placed between the energy absorbing
cushion and the seat pan.

We have some bags of lead shot and at least one lead plate that we use as
you describe for those front-seaters who are too far under the limit for
our available normal ballast to fix. It works well and, I'm told, is
perfectly comfortable if positioned properly.

I heard a frightening story about a kid who needed ballast for his first
solo in some sort of powered plane. They stuck a lead plate under him to
bring his weight up to the minimum. Sometime during the flight the plate
slid up, jamming the stick full forward. He completed several outside
loops before unjamming the stick, regaining control, and landing safely.
Obviously you should make sure this can't happen to you.

--
Michael Ash
Rogue Amoeba Software