TangoWhiskey
Touchdown! Greaser!
I think an important aspect missing from most flight training and aircraft checkouts is flight at max gross weight, and at both ends of the CG profile.
I'd like to get checked out in a G1000 Turbo Cessna 206 that is available for rent at Addison, because it can carry my entire family (5 including me).
However, I must admit to some trepidation with taking ALL of us on board for that first takeoff, when I don't know exactly what to expect from aircraft performance. I know the plane has six seats, good payload, etc., but there's something 'twitchy' in my tummy about those first flights in a new plane in a new configuration--I want to KNOW (not just because the book says so, either) that it can carry the weight of my family, and I want to KNOW what my performance will be. No surprises.
This got me thinking about how to simulate weight without adding additional risk to PEOPLE.
Water makes a nice, cheap, easily disposable ballast. Water weighs 8.35# (roughly) per gallon. A 30 gallon cylindrical tank like this one could be seat belted into a chair could simulate any weight up to 250#. This is sufficient to simulate any weight configuration/CG configuration.
Obviously, I'd want to find one cheaper. Must be spill proof, of course.
What do you think? I think FBO's should have these and include full-gross weight training in their checkouts.
Do you have a better way to simulate this? Sandbags? (Who has those??)
I'd like to get checked out in a G1000 Turbo Cessna 206 that is available for rent at Addison, because it can carry my entire family (5 including me).
However, I must admit to some trepidation with taking ALL of us on board for that first takeoff, when I don't know exactly what to expect from aircraft performance. I know the plane has six seats, good payload, etc., but there's something 'twitchy' in my tummy about those first flights in a new plane in a new configuration--I want to KNOW (not just because the book says so, either) that it can carry the weight of my family, and I want to KNOW what my performance will be. No surprises.
This got me thinking about how to simulate weight without adding additional risk to PEOPLE.
Water makes a nice, cheap, easily disposable ballast. Water weighs 8.35# (roughly) per gallon. A 30 gallon cylindrical tank like this one could be seat belted into a chair could simulate any weight up to 250#. This is sufficient to simulate any weight configuration/CG configuration.
Obviously, I'd want to find one cheaper. Must be spill proof, of course.
What do you think? I think FBO's should have these and include full-gross weight training in their checkouts.
Do you have a better way to simulate this? Sandbags? (Who has those??)