CHAPTER 4

WEIGHT AND BALANCE

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

4.1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................

4.2. WEIGHT CONTROL............................................................................................................................

4.2.1. Weight Limits and Related Fundamental Definitions................................................................

4.2.2. Effects of Weight.......................................................................................................................

4.3. BALANCE, STABILITY, AND CENTER OF GRAVITY...............................................................................

4.4. DETERMINING CENTER OF GRAVITY (CG).........................................................................................

4.4.1. Shifting the CG – cargo or pax shifting....................................................................................

4.4.2. Shifting the CG – Armaments..................................................................................................

4.4.3. Shifting the CG – Fuel Consumption.......................................................................................

4.4.4. Another Way to Express the CG..............................................................................................

4.5. WEIGHING THE AIRCRAFT AND DETERMINING THE EMPTY WEIGHT CENTER OF
GRAVITY......................................................................................................................................................

APPENDICES
APPENDIX 4 - TERMINOLOGY
 CHAPTER 4

WEIGHT AND BALANCE

4.1. INTRODUCTION
Operating an aircraft above the maximum weight limitation compromises its structural
integrity and negatively affects its performance. Flying with the center of gravity
outside the approved limits results in control difficulty. Therefore, fulfillment with the
Weight (W) and Center of Gravity (CG) limits of any aircraft is critical to flight safety.
The objective of this chapter is to provide information and discuss concepts regarding
the means for continuous record and control of aircraft weight and balance, that is the
calculation and the controlling of the CG.
Flight characteristics of an aircraft (controllability and performance) are directly
dependent upon their weight and balance conditions. Operations outside the
prescribed limits, may experience one or more of the following unsatisfactory flight
characteristics, performance degradations or payload reduction:
 Longitudinal and Lateral instability;
 Reduced maneuverability;
 Increase in takeoff distance and speed;
 Excessive weight on the nose wheel or tail wheel;
 Increase in landing ground run;
 Increase in control forces;
 Increase in stall speeds;
 Decrease in range;
 Decrease in rate of climb;
 Decrease in service ceiling; and
 Decrease in structural safety factors.

4.2. WEIGHT CONTROL

The force of gravity continuously attempts to pull an aircraft down towards Earth. The
force of lift is the only force that sustains an aircraft in flight and counteracts the
weight. The amount of lift produced by an airfoil is limited by the airfoil design, angle
of attack (AOA), airspeed, and air density. If the weight is greater than the lift
generated, the aircraft may be incapable of flight. Therefore, it is very important to
maintain a rigid control of this parameter.
4.2.1. Weight Limits and Related Fundamental Definitions
The design of an aircraft determines a number of weight limits. These limits are
defined by performance, control, and structural restrictions.

BEW = Basic Empty Weight = The standard empty weight plus the optional equipment
installed. It’s made up of the weight of the airframe, engines, all permanently installed
equipment, and fluids not usable.

MTOW = Maximum Takeoff Weight = The maximum weight at which the pilot of the
aircraft is allowed to attempt to take off, due to structural, performance, breaks energy
absorption or other limits.

MZFW = Maximum Zero Fuel Weight = The maximum weight allowed before ”usable
fuel” and other specified usable agents (engine injection fluid, and other consumable
propulsion agents) are loaded in defined sections of the aircraft as limited by strength
and airworthiness requirements.

ARM = The horizontal distance from the reference datum to the center of gravity (CG)
of an item. The algebraic sign is plus (+) if measured aft of the datum or to the right
side of the center line when considering a lateral calculation. The algebraic sign is
minus (-) if measured forward of the datum or the left side of the center line when
considering a lateral calculation.

MOMENT = The product of the weight of an item multiplied by its arm. Total moment
is the total weight of the aircraft multiplied by the arm of the CG.

More definitions may be found in Annex 4.A – TERMINOLOGY

 Figure 4.1: Weight Terminology (T.O. 1-1B-50)

4.2.2. Effects of Weight

The pilot must be aware about the effect of weight on the performance of the
particular aircraft being flown. Preflight planning should include a check of
performance charts to determine if the aircraft’s weight and airfield conditions may
contribute to hazardous flight operations.
Excessive weight itself reduces the safety margins available to the pilot and becomes
even more hazardous when other performance-reducing factors are combined with
excess weight (ex: emergency conditions, such as engine fails, ice formation, etc).
The operating weight of an aircraft can be changed in accordance with mission
requirements. Then, consider the following:
 Replacing fuel per load and vice-versa;
 Normally fuel is the only change in weight during flight. So, performance should
increase;
 The installation of extra radios or instruments, as well as repairs or modifications
may also affect the weight of an aircraft.
4.3. BALANCE, STABILITY, AND CENTER OF GRAVITY

Balance refers to the location of the CG of an aircraft and is important to its stability
and control, thus essential to flight safety.
The primary concern in balancing an aircraft is the limitations (fore and aft locations) of
the CG along the longitudinal axis. The CG position varies during flight as the weight
distribution shifts. Variable load items such as weapons, fuel etc, produce this effect.
The CG travel is the distance between the most forward and the most rearward
positions of the CG and is called CG range. It is defined by the manufacturer.
Examples of unbalanced loading are displayed on figure 4.2.

Figure 4.2: Lateral and Longitudinal unbalance

The following characteristics are expected with respect to CG position:

 CG forward – heavy nose – less performance;
 CG rearward – controllability problems;
 Lateral displacement of the CG (asymmetry) – heavy wing;
 Non symmetric CG increases drag;
 Control of lateral CG is not common, refers to AFM to specific limitations;
 Unbalance can be compensated by change on trimming but the consequence is
decrease in performance and controllability.

BALANCE PRINCIPLES
It might be advantageous at this point to review and discuss some of the basic
definitions and methods of weight and balance determination.
The following method of computation can be applied to any object or vehicle for which
weight and balance information is essential.
By determining the weight of the empty aircraft and adding the weight of everything
loaded on the aircraft, a total weight can be determined. A greater problem,
particularly if the basic principles of weight and balance are not understood, is
distributing this weight in such a manner that the entire mass of the loaded aircraft is
balanced around a point (CG) that must be located within specified limits.
As mentioned earlier, a safe zone within which the balance point (CG) must fall is
called the CG range. The extremities of the range are called the forward CG limit (FWD
LIMIT) and aft CG limit (AFT LIMIT).
These limits are usually specified in inches, along the longitudinal axis of the airplane,
measured from a reference point called a datum reference. The datum is an arbitrary
point, established by aircraft designers, which may vary in location between different
aircraft.

Figure 4.3: Weight and Balance

The location of the object or part is often referred to as the station. If the weight of
any object or component is multiplied by the distance from the datum (arm), the
product is the moment.
To illustrate, assume a weight of 10 pounds is placed on the board at a station or point
70 inches from the datum (see Figure 4-3). This weight is responsible for a moment of
700 in-lb.

4.4. DETERMINING CENTER OF GRAVITY (CG)

One of the easiest ways to understand weight and balance concepts is to consider a
board with weights placed at various locations. We can determine the CG of the board
and observe the way the CG changes as the weights are moved.
The CG of a board (Figure 4.4) may be determined by using these four steps:
1. Measure the arm of each weight (in inches in this example) from the datum;
2. Multiply each arm by its weight (in pounds in this example) to determine the
moment in pound-inches of each weight;
3. Determine the total of all weights and of all the moments. Disregard the weight of
the board;
4. Divide the total moment by the total weight to determine the CG in inches from
the datum.

Figure 4.4: Determining the center of gravity from a datum located off the board

In Figure 4.4, the board has three weights, and the datum is placed to the left of the
board and the arms are as indicated.
To determine the CG take the four previous steps and filling up the table below, find
the CG of the system.
MOMENT(lb-
ITEM WEIGHT(lb) ARM (in) CG (in)
in)
 WEIGHT A 100 50 5.000
WEIGHT B 100 90 9.000
WEIGHT C 200 150 30.000
400 44.000 110
TABLE 4.1: Determining the CG of a board with three weights and
the datum located off the boar to the left.

To prove this is the correct CG, move the datum to a location 110 to the right of the
original datum, determine the arm of each weight from this new datum, and construct
a similar table for the new data. If the CG is correct, the sum of the moments will be
zero.
The board is balanced when the sum of the moments is zero. The location of the
datum used for determining the arms of the weights is not important; it can be
anywhere. However, all measurements must be made from the same datum location.
Now, let us practice this procedure with a real airplane (note the similarities of the
methodology with the previous example). Determine the EWCG (Empty Weight CG) for
an aircraft showed in Figure 4-5.
Prepare the airplane for weighing and place it on three scales. The arms of the
weighing points are specified in the proper documentation of the aircraft that defines
the respective distances, in inches, from the datum.

Figure 4.5: Determining the CG after weighing an aircraft

Suppose the data gathered in the weighing of the airplane in Figure 4.5 and filled in the
table below with the data in red. Then, after the math, the table is completed
resulting:
 The empty weight of this aircraft is 5.862 pounds.
 The arm (position of the scales under the wheels) – manufacturer data.
 Its EWCG (empty weight CG) is determined by dividing the total moment by the
total weight, and is located at fuselage station 201,1. This is 201,1 inches behind
the datum.

MOMENT (lb-
ITEM WEIGHT(lb) ARM(in) CG (in)
in)
Main wheels (sum of
3.540 245,5 869.070
both)
Nose wheel 2.322 133,5 309.987
TOTAL 5.862 1.179.057 201,1
TABLE 4.2: Determining the EWCG with respect to the datum line

The control of weight and CG of an aircraft can be done in several ways. Although the
basic math behind the methods is the same, they differ in ease of use or availability of
data. We can use tables, graphic methods (use of vectors) or calculations. Follow some
examples.

4.4.1. Shifting the CG – cargo or pax shifting

EXAMPLE #1:
Consider the aircraft with the blank weight and balance worksheet shown below.

TABLE 4.3: Basic Empty Weight of a generic airplane balance table

It takes off with the loading as on table 4.4 below.

MOMENT(lb-
ITEM WEIGHT (lb) ARM (in) CG (in)
in)
BEW 1.874 36,1 67.651,4
Front Seats 300 37 11.100
 Rear Seats 74
Fuel 528 46,6 24.604,8
Baggage A 80 97 7.760
Baggage B 116
TOTAL 2.782 111.116,2 39,9
TABLE 4.4: Balance table for the first flight of the example

Therefore, it takes off with 2.782 lb of weight and CG at 39,9 in from the datum. After
flying some time and landed, the following changes (refueling) have been made:
 Refueling with full gas = 528 pounds.
 More passengers came on board = 175 pounds on rear seats.
 More luggage has been loaded = 20 pounds on compartment A and 50 pounds on
compartment B.
Finally, the new table for second takeoff with the new loading becomes:
MOMENT (lb-
ITEM WEIGHT (lb) ARM (in) CG (in)
in)
BEW 1.874 36,1 67.651,4
Front Seats 300 37 11.100
Rear Seats 175 74 12.950
Fuel 528 46,6 24.604,8
Baggage A 100 97 9.700
Baggage B 50 116 5.800
TOTAL 3.027 131.806,2 43,54
TABLE 4.5: Balance table for the second flight of the example

It can be visualized the center of gravity plots on a chart from the POH (Pilots
Operating Handbook) with the limits for this airplane at the three situations from the
previous tables.
Figure 4.6: Center of gravity limits chart