If you were 50lbs, where would you be hiding in a C150?

It is more than I thought. I just checked the POH and I was way off

POH empty weight: 1440
Our bird: 1572
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
It is more than I thought. I just checked the POH and I was way off

POH empty weight: 1440
Our bird: 1572
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What does your weight and balance papers say? The POH is absolute best case scenario.

Also the aircraft was originally weighed with out oil. Car 3 1956, so there is another 12 pounds.

ELT's weren't required when the aircraft was new, so add a pound or two there.

Is there a fire extinguisher on board now?

a whole bunch of minor modifications of 'W&B change negligible' adds up.
 

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SixPapaCharlie said:
It is more than I thought. I just checked the POH and I was way off

POH empty weight: 1440
Our bird: 1572
Click to expand...

Are you looking at the "SAMPLE" loading and empty weight figures in the POH? That isn't the actual empty weight of the aircraft.

I can expect to see a 100-200 pound shift on a 15,000 pound airplane that hasn't been weighed in a decade...
 
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We had W&B done and it came back 1572 with 765 Useful load

POH shows this:
999927871959.jpg
 
This shows why the AOPA C-150's aren't such a crazy idea. When they take the airplane apart and clean out all the wasp nests and dead rodents they really do add value to the old airplane.
 
If it was a Navion, 50 lbs of 5606 soaked up in the carpeting is a likelyhood. I doubt the toe breaks have leaked that much in the 150 over history (the only thing other than the nose strut which leaks on the ground that has 5606).

I'd look for ancient wiring hacked off but left wiretied up behind the panel, etc... stuff under the carpets, etc...

How far out is the CG?

Amuningly, after 60 years of plusses and minuses on my W&B when I had my plane weighed, it was within a few pounds of what the existing paperwork said.
 
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flyingron said:
If it was a Navion, 50 lbs of 5606 soaked up in the carpeting is a likelyhood. I doubt the toe breaks have leaked that much in the 150 over history (the only thing other than the nose strut which leaks on the ground that has 5606).

I'd look for ancient wiring hacked off but left wiretied up behind the panel, etc... stuff under the carpets, etc...

How far out is the CG?

Amuningly, after 60 years of plusses and minuses on my W&B when I had my plane weighed, it was within a few pounds of what the existing paperwork said.
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In my 310, between the alternator conversion and the panel where they pulled out three generations of old boxes and wiring, it lost 200lbs.:eek:
 
Somehow our Cherokee 180 lost about 50 pounds after we removed 1 kx155, and installed 1 gnc300, 1 mk12D, 1 kma24, 1 midcontinent gps indicator, 1 narco nav indicator w/gs, and a 4 place intercom.
 
I doubt it did. Clearly the W&B was incorrect before, and weighing it corrected it. And it was apparently way off, just like ours was, but in the opposite direction!
 
Things like this happen on the Internet. Like statements of 200 lbs. of wiring in a light aircraft removed. Or 50 lbs. of mud daubber waste. The main addition of weight to a light aircraft is re painting it without stripping it, or, a person painting it that also paints autos where weight is not critical. I owned a trophy winning Taylorcraft that weighed 720 lbs when it left the factory in 1946. It was completely rebuilt in 1996. It then weighed 895 lbs. after going thru it very carefully, and it's most beautiful ceconite painted with poly , it was obvious the magnificent shiney paint job had to be the culprit. Looking thru these light aircraft is easy. One can see any possible place where weight could increase. In this case it was a very clean, well done rebuild. This particular aircrafts weight is usually in the 720s -750s when new with a very light paint job . I only offer this possible explanation as 200 lbs of wiring or 50 lbs of dirt or mud dauber waste seems a little over the top.
 
Related note I was told by an old instructor that in the days of smoking an airliner would get 800 lbs heavier from cigarette smoke residue.
 
ClimbnSink said:
Related note I was told by an old instructor that in the days of smoking an airliner would get 800 lbs heavier from cigarette smoke residue.
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I'm sure there is solid evidence to back that up. :rolleyes2:

He probably didn't know that two exact same make/model airplanes, even consecutive serial #'s won't weigh the same.

Isn't uncommon to see sister ships, with the exact same interior and configuration, weigh several hundred pounds different on airplanes around 15,000# ish pounds empty.

The bigger the plane, the bigger that difference is likely it be.
 
Jimmy cooper said:
Things like this happen on the Internet. Like statements of 200 lbs. of wiring in a light aircraft removed. Or 50 lbs. of mud daubber waste. The main addition of weight to a light aircraft is re painting it without stripping it, or, a person painting it that also paints autos where weight is not critical. I owned a trophy winning Taylorcraft that weighed 720 lbs when it left the factory in 1946. It was completely rebuilt in 1996. It then weighed 895 lbs. after going thru it very carefully, and it's most beautiful ceconite painted with poly , it was obvious the magnificent shiney paint job had to be the culprit. Looking thru these light aircraft is easy. One can see any possible place where weight could increase. In this case it was a very clean, well done rebuild. This particular aircrafts weight is usually in the 720s -750s when new with a very light paint job . I only offer this possible explanation as 200 lbs of wiring or 50 lbs of dirt or mud dauber waste seems a little over the top.
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I'm sure in 1946 the scale was calibrated for variations in earth's gravity lol.

I completely agree on the "50# of _______" statements being over the top. Grab a scale and a bucket. Dump 25# of sand or dirt in the bucket. Using common sense, please explain where 50# of dirt can be found in a 150.
Oil weighs what? 6-8# a quart? Go dump a few quarts of oil in the belly and see how much drains out. Anyone who has ever dumped a quart of oil on the floor knows how far goes.

18 gauge unshielded wire (on aircraft spruce) is listed at 8.6 pounds per 1000 Feet. That's enough to go from wingtip to wingtip about 30 times on a C150.
 
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And according to Boeing, 2 coats of paint on an entire 767-300 weighs 299#. Is a C-150 1/6 of that surface area? 50# for paint seems over the top to me.

John
 
Wheel fairings on or off? 25 pounds at a minimum.
 
I didn't see it mentioned, but I am under the impression that not every airplane was weighed as it left the factory. Although it is a different manufacturer, I know I've seen at least one original weight and balance sheet that says "calculated" at the top and "actual" is struck out.

Could it be that the airplane was never weighed to begin with and all of the updates were based off of an estimated number to begin with? :dunno:
 
mondtster said:
I didn't see it mentioned, but I am under the impression that not every airplane was weighed as it left the factory. Although it is a different manufacturer, I know I've seen at least one original weight and balance sheet that says "calculated" at the top and "actual" is struck out.

Could it be that the airplane was never weighed to begin with and all of the updates were based off of an estimated number to begin with? :dunno:
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Many personal airplanes have never seen a scale. Others weren't properly prepared when they were weighed. I question for sale ads that boast a significantly higher useful load than others.
 
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This makes me curious about our 150's weight but I don't want to "lose" any of the little useful load it has. We are almost finished building an rv12 that will probably require we rent scales for a day. Hopefully it didn't get as fat!
 
The scales I used are the ones that are used to weigh racing cars. Very easy to use (Self contained with their own cables and dedicated computer and display.) They can be borrowed or rented at a speed shop.

In my case I was more interested in the balance rather than the weight.
 
Speaking of mud dobbers...I just found a 7-8 chamber one under my belly pan. Empty, but clearly one from this year. Time to bust out the borescope and see what I can see.
 
tinerj said:
Wheel fairings on or off? 25 pounds at a minimum.
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Don't have any info on the C-150, so next best thing I do have is from the C-152 Information Manual equipment list. Some weights from it:

"Wheel Fairing Installation": 16.7 lbs
It breaks that number out as:
- Nose wheel fairing: 3.5
- Main wheel fairing (each): 5.4
- Brake fairings (each): 0.6

As to paint and corrosion proofing weights, it says:

"Corrosion Proofing, internal": 8.5

"Paint, overall exterior": 9.4
Breaks that out as:
- Overall base white: 9.0
- Color stripe: 0.4

Other stuff:
Sperry 300 ADF: 7.9
Ground service receptacle: 2.2
You can save 5.9 lbs per seat if it doesn't have vertical adjustments.
 
What happened was as you vsited non-flying friends, they hid a present in the tail cone and forgot to tell you about it. That's why the trim wheel has to be set for full nose down trim.
 
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