Jerry came over and we did some W & B measurements and I then used a spread sheet that is on our site, to come up with some numbers. I will post the new sheet, as soon as Jerry and I review it some more. Here are the results.
We set the plane up level and put some bathroom scales under the wheels. 2 under each of the mains and 1 on the tail. We dropped a plumb for each of the points. We took measurements with the plane empty, one with me in it, and one with Jerry in it. Funny how our stations are not the same. We then took off the engine, cowl, and everything that would move forward if we were to move the engine forward as a result of the calculations. I then spent the rest of the afternoon wrestling with the spread sheet and think that I finally have it. The problem that I see, is that the two measurements, with engine and without, do not agree exactly, but no matter which one I use, believe it or not, we don't have a CG problem at all. In fact, you can have a 120# pilot, full fuel and do not go past forward, you can go to 180# and 200# pound people at the same time, and 1 gal of fuel and do not exceed the conservative aft of 14". There must be something wrong with this. The only way that I can reconcile it in my mind is that we have a 420 pound airplane with an engine and accessory component, with cowl, that is 254 pounds. If you look at the section on Plane Empty No Engine, you will see what I mean, when I post the XLS. I took the calculated engine weight * the station and added it back in and did not get the same total as the plane with the engine. Yes, you added that right, this is a heavy plane at 674 pounds we were hoping for closer to 620. Oh, well, I guess we will either have to do it again, or hope and pray that we are close. See N64KR at http://KR-Builder.org - Then click on the pics There is a time for building and a time for FLYING and the time for building has expired. Daniel R. Heath - Columbia, SC See you in Mt. Vernon - 2005 - KR Gathering
