AIRCRAFT WEIGHT AND BALANCE

AIRCRAFT WEIGHT AND BALANCE

 Weight and balance illustrated.

An Important Safety Consideration for Pilots. Aircraft Performance and Handling Characteristics are affected by the gross weight and center of gravity limits. If every pilot, dispatchers and operators were to understand and respect this fact, general aviation accidents could be reduced dramatically.

An overloaded or improperly balanced aircraft will require more power and greater fuel consumption to maintain flight, and the stability and controllability will be seriously affected.

Weight and Balance suggests the concern is not only with the weight of the airplane but also the location of its center of gravity (CG). The importance of the CG should have become apparent in the discussion of stability, controllability, and performance.

If all pilots, dispatchers understood and respected the effect of CG on an airplane, then one type of accident would be eliminated from the records: PRIMARY CAUSE OF ACCIDENT AIRPLANE CENTER OF GRAVITY OUT OF REARWARD LIMITS AND UNEQUAL LOAD DISTRIBUTION RESULTING IN AN UNSTABLE AIRPLANE. PILOT LOST CONTROL OF AIRPLANE ON TAKE OFF AND CRASHED.

The distribution of the overall load within the aircraft – important for monitoring the maximum permissible masses – and the aircraft’s center of gravity – the trim – are included.

The trim must also remain within a prescribed tolerance during takeoff, the entire flight, and landing.

When preparing the loading plan, it is necessary not only to consider the positions, weights, and sizes of cargo units but especially also whether the IATA rules permit them to be stowed adjacent to one another in the aircraft.

Axis of Rotation

The Weight and Balance issue is particularly important for Cargo Operations.

Two fatal cargo plane crashes occurred in the United States in recent years because of a failure to load the airplane within weight and/or center of gravity (CG) limits.

The first crash involved the Aug. 7, 1997 fiery impact moments after takeoff of a Fine Air DC-8 cargo jet at Miami. The second crash, involved the Feb. 16, 2000 crash seconds after takeoff from LA  California  this time of an improperly loaded Evergreen Worldwide Airlines DC-8.

My best recommendation to all folks working in the aviation industry always must be alerted,  we are humans nothing is perfect; remember before each flight the pilot and dispatchers must ensure that the aircraft does not exceed the maximum gross weight. Constantly must also determine the Center of Gravity (C of G) of an aircraft before each flight to ensure it is between the maximum rearward and maximum forward positions (the C of G Range). Check and Re Check always all the time before your flight.

Human Errors always going to be, the most important is to detected on time to prevent accidents.

Maintain knowledge and understand that aircraft performance and handling characteristics are affected by the gross weight and center of gravity. This could dramatically reduce aviation accidents.

Any airplane must be carefully loaded to maintain the center of gravity within a carefully designed and tested zone of the airplane

Think Safety Work Safety !!!!