Working with Phil Matheson, I have modified my spread sheet to work with a tri-gear, which was nothing more than showing a negative number for the nose wheel, and to include a calculation for baggage. For those of you who have a conventional gear KR, and need baggage, just change the measurements for your third wheel and make it positive. Remember that all measurements are taken from the firewall in this spread sheet. The other number that seems to change very slightly is the distance from the firewall to the leading edge of the wing. This number is used in the "CG Calculation", to determine where you fall within the CG range.
What you do not need to measure, is your stations for these variables: Pilot/passenger, fuel, baggage. You weigh the plane empty first, then with baggage only, then with pilot/passenger only, then with fuel only. The reason that I say fuel last, is because it is more difficult to remove from the plane than the others. Putting these numbers into the spread sheet, will calculate these stations for you and carry the numbers down to the "CG Calculation" part of the sheet at the bottom. You can then play with the numbers in yellow, to see how you fair with different loading configurations If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. As always, verification of the calculations and the weights and measurements is up to you and remember that your results will vary. See N64KR at http://KRBuilder.org - Then click on the pics See you at the 2007 - KR Gathering There is a time for building and a time for FLYING and the time for Flying has begun. Daniel R. Heath - Lexington, SC
