Weight over the years

Weight over the years
· Back to the Forum · Further Reading · Reply to this Message ·

Posted by Cary Winch on 07/08/10 - 11:00:25
IP: 96.60.14.24 Browser: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.6) Gecko/20100625 Firefox/3.6.6

Message Body

Just like the rest of us the old original Duce 70BD has packed on a few pounds over the years. I put it on the scales last night with the fuel all drained out and such to do a updated weight and balance myself. I was leveling it up anyways to make some rigging adjustments (had a heavy left wing). Had it leveled with a laser transit nice and perfect. Balance is good (only .4" further forward than originally), weight on the other hand not so good.

Originally this plane weighed 898 lb with a 68 lb tail.
Now it weighs 1118 lb with a 78 lb tail.

This would explain why it flys poorly with a passenger but OK solo. Good thing I only weigh 160lb.

Here are the list of weight additions I know of since it was built:
Alternator (small one though), starter, metal prop, Starter battery (don't know if it originally had a smaller battery), handheld radio, full exhaust system with no muffler (originally just had four short stacks), Heavy heavy thick steel landing gear truss support, extra coat of paint on the wings.

Still having a hard time adding up 220lb worth of extra weight.

If anyone has any good suggestions on this let me know. At this point it is a single seat airplane based on this weight. Coupled with the fact I do not have fuel available at my airport means I have to fly to a neighboring airport and fill both tanks. So, I generally have a good load of fuel on board. Really don't want a single seat airplane so this is unhappy situation for me.

Cary

For Further Reading

solo? - MIke, 07/09/10 - 09:31:13

Thanks Mike - Cary Winch, 07/09/10 - 10:19:30

winter project - Mike, 07/09/10 - 14:34:33

yup - Cary Winch, 07/09/10 - 19:17:22

Reply to this Message

Back to the Forum

Name:
E-Mail:
PASSWORD (duce2006):
Subject:
Message: