Tomvaillencourt
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- Joined
- Aug 1, 2014
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Hey guys and Gals, got a question.. Anyone who flies Cherokees knows they are notoriously Forward in CG. I have owned a 180C for going on 9 years now, and I've finally gotten tired of dealing with it. I'm a heavy guy, but not huge I weigh 240lbs. I either have to have another adult who flies with me ride in the back and fuel to the tabs at most, or carry a bunch of weight in the cargo area for ballast, but doing that also brings the overall weight up a lot for no reason. Adjustments to loading positions at best just slide the net CG moment up and down the forward limit of the envelope, possibly even at times going out. In fact, I frequently run out of forward limit while still well below gross. I started talking it over with my A&P/IA and he suggests adding between 15-20 lbs. all the way back inside the tail cone; against the bulkhead and obviously out of the way of the elevator and trim mechanisms. The arm for this is 255 inches aft of datum, and the calculations say it will work great. it moves the empty and all loaded CG moments back toward the forward third of the envelope, but because its not alot of weight it doesn't approach gross to accomplish it.. According to calculations it still comes no where near aft CG limits. (I actually can't imagine a realistic loading scenario where you could exceed aft CG in the Cherokee even if you wanted to.) However, I still have a hard time believing you could put that much weight so far back without a problem. The Calcs work, but has anyone on here ever had this done? or know of anyone who has? I've already noticed a huge improvement in the landing flare just using 100lbs in the baggage area, but this obviously means its less butts and fuel I can take.
