Single passenger weight limit (C172)

jasc15

jasc15

Pre-takeoff checklist
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The flying seed was planted by my uncle who was an Air Force pilot, and I grew up hearing his stories. We continue to speak regularly, and now I tell him of my stories (slightly less interesting than his). He hasn't flown in about 30 years, and is quite overweight now (~350 lbs is my guess) and wouldn't be able to if he wanted to. He hinted to me last time we talked about going for a ride, but he and I both know that it's a long shot. I haven't directly acknowledged the obvious difficulty to him, but I'm sure he is aware. However, I would still like to make an effort, and if it is safe, I can deal with being uncomfortable for an hour in the air.

tl;dr, how large a person can fit in the front seat of a 172 (assuming we are still in the W&B envelope)?
 
Play with the numbers. The only way to find out is to plug in the numbers. If you end up being too forward or out of the envelope maybe see if you can balance it out with some ballast in the back with out going over weight.
 
The W&B is on the edge with full fuel. I will probably burn about 50 pounds of fuel before flying to where he lives, but I figured it with full fuel for some margin. The lower dot is after about 2 hours of flying.
 

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On some airplanes, you have weight limits for seats, as they are only built to take so much mass. I don't know about the C172.
 
Do you really need full fuel? Maybe calculate the amount of flight time and just have that fuel on board plus reserves
 
Also, note that the seat will be further back than normal. Likely not going to sit side by side in this setup. When I flew my Father In Law in the C172SP, to get in and out he was almost at the furthest back seat position and only really decided to move it forward one notch or two. He was +270 lbs IIRC.
 
The limiting factors are not likely to be W&B, but rather issues of ingress and the safety belt, plus clearance to the yoke.
 
Yeah, I havent seen anything in the poh about individual seat limits. I'd be more concerned about the seat back during climb than the bottom frame.
 
As long as you do not have some limitation in the POH. You will need to verify the following.
- Can you close the door?
- Will the seatbelt fit?
- Does he restrict any of the flight controls?
- Are you within CG? Most likely will not fly will full fuel.

I have carried someone near 400lb in a cherokee 140, cessna 182 and a cherokee 235. No problem at all just less climb. Plane does not know the difference between one person or two unless you are out of CG. You can get seatbelt extenders if you need.
 
Many FBOs have a seat belt extender - maybe you can borrow one for the flight.
 
Have a friend about this size that wanted to fly in the Tiger. Told him to come out and we'll see after he gets in the plane and I check things. To be in a comforatble W&B I was going with 19 gallons per side instead of 25.5 and was adding ballast to the cargo area. I didn't take him up as it was a nightmare getting him in and out - that plus most of his weight is in his hips and I couldn't reach the flaps and trim without playing grab***.
 
I have a 280-300# friend who wants to fly. Plan is to put him in the back and bring a light friend for upfront. Not sure how he is getting in but it shouldn't be too bad. The front seat in a 172 moves forward quite a bit.
 
Can you take the right front seat out and have him sit on the back seat? It is likely that the stomach on someone that size will interfere with the yoke.

-Skip
 
I have some very obese relatives on my wife's side When they were here I could not figure out a way to safely take them flying....
 
I was probably close to that sized when I trained in my Cherokee 140. My girl friends is a big gal too and my CFI was a tall string bean kind of a guy so we used to tease them that he'd have to loose some weight so all three of us could fly together...

It is not a problem So long as you are not doing it in a Mooney, 350# no problem at all. Put a case of water bottles in the boot to help with W&B. You both can have a great time.

I recommend pushing his seat back and yours a bit forward so your arms are over his and you have better access.
 
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Mike5250 said:
I have a 280-300# friend who wants to fly. Plan is to put him in the back and bring a light friend for upfront. Not sure how he is getting in but it shouldn't be too bad. The front seat in a 172 moves forward quite a bit.
Click to expand...

Unless you're also that heavy, W&B works for that case in a 172 even with your friend in front. Just don't try it in a 177.
 
I took my brother in law on a cross country the other night. He weights in around the 300 mark, and I'm not a small guy either. With the two of us in front we were right on the ragged forward edge of the envelope. I'm not sure I'd want to do it in the middle of summer with full fuel, but other than a slightly longer takeoff roll it was no big deal. Three landings were no problem either; you could tell the old girl was a little more nose heavy than usual, but I still was able to get a nice, smooth flare.
 
300# in an airplane seat void all dynamic crashworthiness, yep. Illegal, not if all restrictions and operating limitaions are met.
 
danhagan said:
Have a friend about this size that wanted to fly in the Tiger. Told him to come out and we'll see after he gets in the plane and I check things. To be in a comforatble W&B I was going with 19 gallons per side instead of 25.5 and was adding ballast to the cargo area. I didn't take him up as it was a nightmare getting him in and out - that plus most of his weight is in his hips and I couldn't reach the flaps and trim without playing grab***.
Click to expand...

Similar experience with a friend. Once I got him inside my Mooney, this popped into my head "so this is what a sardine feels like". Wasn't going to happen...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
jasc15 said:
Yeah, I havent seen anything in the poh about individual seat limits. I'd be more concerned about the seat back during climb than the bottom frame.
Click to expand...

There won't be anything in the Limitations section of the POH. Once upon a time I called Cessna and asked an engineer if their was a seat weight limit. He said that those standards are set by the National Bureau of Standards (duh). I went to the NBS web site and learned that if I wanted any data it would cost in excess of three figures, so I dropped my inquiry there and then. I guess that the most frequent users of NBS data are manufacturers, who have deeper pockets than I do. :hairraise:

Bob Gardner
 
bobmrg said:
There won't be anything in the Limitations section of the POH. Once upon a time I called Cessna and asked an engineer if their was a seat weight limit. He said that those standards are set by the National Bureau of Standards (duh). I went to the NBS web site and learned that if I wanted any data it would cost in excess of three figures, so I dropped my inquiry there and then. I guess that the most frequent users of NBS data are manufacturers, who have deeper pockets than I do. :hairraise:

Bob Gardner
Click to expand...

I'm surprised they don't publish a seat limit. I've seen it in some aircraft.
 
DaleB said:
I took my brother in law on a cross country the other night. He weights in around the 300 mark, and I'm not a small guy either. With the two of us in front we were right on the ragged forward edge of the envelope.
Click to expand...

I assume that that was at the beginning of the flight. OK for a quick trip around the patch. You might have second thoughts on a longer flight as you burn off more gas. {I did a quick check for an R182 and it didn't like such a person in the front without a substantial fuel load on board}
 
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