On 7/11/2022 8:34 PM, MS wrote:
but if it's a conventional gear KR, filling up the header and lifting
the tail will tell you how tail heavy the plane is. In my experience
with two of them this lifetime, the KR has a wide CG range that, if
exceeded, can be easily compensated for with extra speed if necessary.
Both my KR's have let me get away with murder, but both KR's were
built by engineers who were precise with their work. Assuming a KR
has been built with finesse, my impression is they are very forgiving.
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I'm amazed that someone with your experience takes such a cavalier
attitude to weight and balance of an aircraft. Tail light or heavy
tells you nothing about the CG location but rather the location of the
landing gear in relation to the CG. An aircraft with uncontrollable aft
CG might have a light tail if the gear is close to the CG location and a
very nose heavy aircraft could have a heavy tail if the gear is mounted
well forward. The actual CG must be determined with scales,
measurements, and math. An engineer / designer will try to place the
main gear on a conventional gear aircraft as close to the CG as possible
for the best possible ground handling. In the case of the C140 they went
a bit too far and made the airplane extremely tail light and pilots were
putting the airplane on the nose with excessive braking. The fix was to
modify the gear and place the wheels about 4 inches further forward.
Lifting the tail before and after the mod would not give you the
location of the CG but only the relative location of the gear to the
CG. The CG location never changed only the tail weight. Was the CG
location correct? Only scales, measurements, and math can determine that.
As far as the KR letting you get away with murder, I'm thinking the
design more likely kept you from committing suicide. CG should not be
taken lightly............
Larry Flesner
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