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Weight and Balance

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08 Sep 2019 12:44 - 08 Sep 2019 13:17 #7 by Jack Lawless
Replied by Jack Lawless on topic Weight and Balance
Thanks for confirming that data. Actually, I do have an EarthX installed, and super light weight foam and carbon floor board. We put the new 406mhz ELT way in the tail and that is part of the problem I believe. Plus I didn't take out the old clunky heavy weight strobe in the belly. Every little bit helps. The last ten pounds I lost also helps.

The left main weighed 427, the right 428 and the nose 277. That gave me 1132. Taking out the fuel I came in at 988 and 30.09 inches. That is only 58 lbs over the stripped factory number. I don't see how any Alon with a radio, a few instruments, transponder, and ELT can possibly stay within the envelope even with just one standard weight pilot on board. At full fuel, with just me, I am just within the envelope. Burn off two hours, 11 gallons, and I am at the full aft CG limit.

I'm getting the impression most coopers watch the gross weight and just disregard the balance envelope.
Last edit: 08 Sep 2019 13:17 by Jack Lawless.

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08 Sep 2019 10:38 #8 by John Jones
Replied by John Jones on topic Weight and Balance
Your locations match what is on my original equipment list from the factory. My records do have a physical weighing form from 1994 that had the mains at 43.75 and the nose at -17.25.

Switching to the EarthX lithium battery would save weight and move the CG forward, as would going to an Oddysey.

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07 Sep 2019 21:06 #9 by Jack Lawless
Weight and Balance was created by Jack Lawless
I restored my Alon A2 and updated avionics and a lot of things. It was impossible to recalculate the W & B so we reweighed the airplane. Empty came out to 988 lbs with a cg of 30.09. Weight isn't bad with a gross of 1450. However, the cg is terrible. Just a 180 pound pilot and full fuel I would be 174 lbs under gross but just out of aft cg. As the fuel burns out it gets worse. When weighing we used 44 inches for the main gear and -16 for the nose. To gain useful load I went to new lightweight instruments and avionics as well as a lightweight starter and alternator and I eliminated the vacuum pump by going all electric. Those were all forward of the datum line and did have an effect but I can't immagiine it would be that much. Any thoughts on were an error might be?

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