Late this afternoon I did make a short flight to a place called Pacayacu (PAC). Once again I had a load full of teachers and a LOT of cargo. Most of the weight was books and school supplies. You can tell by the photo above that the tail of Alas 10 is very close to the ground with the nose wheel almost in the air. ALL airplanes are like big teeter-toters, therefore it is always critical to have your weight balanced correctly or bad things can happen. I was at the very aft limit of my CG (center of gravity) on this flight. With the very capable Cessna 206, there are two ways to determine CG. One is to crunch the numbers and see where it lies. This doesn't take long and it is highly accurate. Usually though, I just use method number two (it's even quicker). To determine the CG, you load your airplane with everything that is going, except yourself. Then you carefully push the tail of the airplane onto the ground. If the tail comes back up on it's own, you are good to go. If the tail just stays there, you better do something different with where your weight is located. This method won't work for many airplanes and it is commonly known and used by many C206 pilots.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
From the logbook...More teacher flying
I was given a bit of a break today from the flight schedule. Things were still very busy in the hangar though, keeping flights going as airplanes returned. It was kind of like the pit crews of NASCAR... but different.
Late this afternoon I did make a short flight to a place called Pacayacu (PAC). Once again I had a load full of teachers and a LOT of cargo. Most of the weight was books and school supplies. You can tell by the photo above that the tail of Alas 10 is very close to the ground with the nose wheel almost in the air. ALL airplanes are like big teeter-toters, therefore it is always critical to have your weight balanced correctly or bad things can happen. I was at the very aft limit of my CG (center of gravity) on this flight. With the very capable Cessna 206, there are two ways to determine CG. One is to crunch the numbers and see where it lies. This doesn't take long and it is highly accurate. Usually though, I just use method number two (it's even quicker). To determine the CG, you load your airplane with everything that is going, except yourself. Then you carefully push the tail of the airplane onto the ground. If the tail comes back up on it's own, you are good to go. If the tail just stays there, you better do something different with where your weight is located. This method won't work for many airplanes and it is commonly known and used by many C206 pilots.
Late this afternoon I did make a short flight to a place called Pacayacu (PAC). Once again I had a load full of teachers and a LOT of cargo. Most of the weight was books and school supplies. You can tell by the photo above that the tail of Alas 10 is very close to the ground with the nose wheel almost in the air. ALL airplanes are like big teeter-toters, therefore it is always critical to have your weight balanced correctly or bad things can happen. I was at the very aft limit of my CG (center of gravity) on this flight. With the very capable Cessna 206, there are two ways to determine CG. One is to crunch the numbers and see where it lies. This doesn't take long and it is highly accurate. Usually though, I just use method number two (it's even quicker). To determine the CG, you load your airplane with everything that is going, except yourself. Then you carefully push the tail of the airplane onto the ground. If the tail comes back up on it's own, you are good to go. If the tail just stays there, you better do something different with where your weight is located. This method won't work for many airplanes and it is commonly known and used by many C206 pilots.
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2 comments:
Hello! I just thought I would let you know that your blog was referred to me so that I could add it to my “Blogs of other missionaries” link list. I look forward to reading about what life is like for you in your part of the world. God Bless You!
Angie – a missionary in Bolivia
Thanks Angie!
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