Weight & Balance

Question 1

Why weight & balance must be taught

Answer 1

Safety & Efficiency

•	Safety
o	Stability 
o	Control Effectiveness
o	Flight Characteristics
o	Need to Know
o	Required 61.87 before solo
♣	Operational Limits
♣	.
♣	.
o	61.105 Safety and Effectiveness
o	61.107 Flight Proficiency Weight & Balance

Efficiency:
• Efficiency
o Performance
o Weight and Balance is a priority

Question 2

What should we teach?

Answer 2

•	Define It
•	Why is it important to learn? 
•	Definitions of Terms
•	Effects of Weight & Cg (aerodynamics & why) 
•	Basic theory
•	Computation
o	Computation (sec 6) 
o	Graph
o	Tabular
•	Student Application
•	Review & Evaluate (law of recency)

Question 3

Common Student Errors

Answer 3

• Finding & Using proper empty weight information
• Unable to determine CG location
• Miscalculations / mathematical errors
• Unable to bring CG back into limits if outside (don’t understand how to resolve)
• Can only do problem through one method
• Hesitant to load aircraft to maximum takeoff or ramp weight.
• Compute Fuel Too Early
• Unable to explain effects of aircraft loading (stability, controllability, moving luggage)