I have been looking at various 2 place certified aerobatic types and there seems to be a problem with payload, and to a lesser extent balance with for example the Pitts S2B and C.
It seems that if you fly either of these types with two regular males, standard equipment, let alone smoke etc., and parachutes plus enough fuel for even a 30 minute aerobatic sortie plus reserve you are going to be over gross.
Presumably then people are routinely flying over gross with all the implications that brings.
Comments ?
Aerobatic aircraft weight and balance
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Rhys Perraton
- Rank 2
- Posts: 50
- Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 10:11 am
Re: Aerobatic aircraft weight and balance
Note that they upped the max gross weight for the S-2C.
Also, the normal category max gross is higher than the
aerobatic category max gross weight. So, with two big
guys you watch the fuel load - easy with the factory
totalizers - and take off at less than the normal category
max gross weight. You burn some gas on the way to
the practice area, now you're in the aerobatic category.
It's much worse with an Extra. It has wing tanks and
a small header tank in the fuselage. You're not supposed
to do any acro with gas in the wing tanks. So, you take
off with a tiny bit of gas in the wing tanks, and burn that
off on the way to the practice area. You do acro. Now,
you've got a real problem - since you only have partial
gas in the fuselage tank, you've pretty well got a fuel
emergency, to fly back to the airport. Hope there isn't
too much traffic in the circuit, because you might have
to fly a "simulated" forced approach.
When you buy an Extra, it is common to see damage
to the wings from people doing aerobatics with gas
in the wing tanks. An Extra, despite the huge price
tag, is really only suitable for doing aerobatics directly
overhead the airport!
Another fun aircraft for aerobatic W&B: try a running
the numbers for a Grob 115 sometime.
Also, the normal category max gross is higher than the
aerobatic category max gross weight. So, with two big
guys you watch the fuel load - easy with the factory
totalizers - and take off at less than the normal category
max gross weight. You burn some gas on the way to
the practice area, now you're in the aerobatic category.
It's much worse with an Extra. It has wing tanks and
a small header tank in the fuselage. You're not supposed
to do any acro with gas in the wing tanks. So, you take
off with a tiny bit of gas in the wing tanks, and burn that
off on the way to the practice area. You do acro. Now,
you've got a real problem - since you only have partial
gas in the fuselage tank, you've pretty well got a fuel
emergency, to fly back to the airport. Hope there isn't
too much traffic in the circuit, because you might have
to fly a "simulated" forced approach.
When you buy an Extra, it is common to see damage
to the wings from people doing aerobatics with gas
in the wing tanks. An Extra, despite the huge price
tag, is really only suitable for doing aerobatics directly
overhead the airport!
Another fun aircraft for aerobatic W&B: try a running
the numbers for a Grob 115 sometime.
