RV WEIGHT AND BALANCE
by Greg Hale
 You can print these instructions out on your printer at home.

The weight and balance screen will allow you compute the CG of your aircraft for flight. Also you can determine the amount of fuel you will need plus the reserve fuel you desire for arrival.

  Setup

The Setup screen will allow you to customize the weight and balance page to reflect your aircraft. You can also enter the number of gallons your aircraft holds and the average fuel burn in cruise.

Select the Save button to apply this information to the weight and balance worksheet.

To change or select a different aircraft, click the Aircraft menu and select the aircraft type. The aircraft with a * indicates data available for that aircraft.
If data is not avalable for the aircraft selected, you can enter this data manually. Also if the value displayed for your aircraft is different than what is displayed, you can change this value.

If a data "Arm" entry does not apply to your aircraft, leave that entry blank. The W&B worksheet will ignore that entry when computing your weight and balance.

Required entries:
  Empty Weight of Aircraft
  The empty CG of the aircraft
  Total gallons of fuel the aircraft can hold
  The average gallons per hour burn of your engine
  Maximum Gross Weight of your aircraft
  Forward CG limit
  Aft CG limit

This information can be updated if your aircraft weight and balance changes. Select the File menu on the W&B worksheet and select Setup.

Operating the Program 

The operation of the program should be pretty much straight forward. You enter the appropriate weights in the Weight column. As weight is added, the Total Gross and CG location are updated. You can also set the flight routing by entering the data in the Flight Itenerary box below the arrival frame.

The left frame of the screen relates to the aircraft weight at departure.The right frame of the screen displays the aircraft weight at arrival.

At the bottom of each frame is a graph that visually displays the CG of the aircraft for departure or arrival.

By selecting the flight time in the Flight Time list, the amount of fuel used is displayed to the right. If your fuel burn will be different than the average fuel burn you indicated on the setup screen, you can manually enter the amount of fuel used on the Gals Used list.

As the flight time changes and or the gals used changes, the total weight and CG of the aircraft will be updated for the arrival.

One other display not mentioned is the Flight Time Remaining. This indicates the amount of flight time remaining after you have reached your destination. This is base on your average fuel burn at cruise.

If you wish to have a predetermined amount of flight time remaining after the flight, you can change the fuel weight on departure until that reserve time is displayed.

Weights and CG that are out of limits will turn red to alert you.

Select the Print button to print a paper copy of the weight and balance for your flight.