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Weight & Balance in Foreflight

Joepre

Member
I am trying to setup the W&B in Foreflight. I am stuck on the forward and aft CG limits. I have a 6A and there is nothing in the POH that can help me. What are others doing to fill this out. Am I including the weights of the souls on board for both fore and aft? Scratching my head on this one. No way to speak to anyone at Foreflight. All I get is an e-mail that is no help.
 
The CG limits are limits regardless of weight. The way the weight is distributed in the aircraft determines its CG. The CG limits are the same at empty weight as max weight. In the case of the RV-6/6a it is 68.7? forward and 76.8? aft except for aerobatics where the aft limit decreases to 75.37?.

From your flight trading you heard of ARROW. ARROW stands for Airworthiness Certificate, Radio Station License, Registration Certificate, Operating Limitations, Weight and Balance (documents required to be in an aircraft by the FAA). You must have onboard the weight and balance information (empty and max weight and CG range). Before each flight you should calculate the CG for the TO and Landing fuel/weight.

When was the last time the plane was weighed and the Empty Weight and CG determined? I did that when I bought my RV-10 and found it was heavier and the CG was wrong. If it has been a while and equipment changed then I suggest weighing it and determining the empty weight and CG which includes verifying nose and main gear position compared to the datum. I am sure there is an EAA chapter or A&P near you to help.

TJ
 
No way to speak to anyone at Foreflight. All I get is an e-mail that is no help.


There most certainly IS a way to get help from ForeFlight. Feel free to PM me if you have a specific FF question that you'd like answered.

From what I can tell so far, your question thus far is RV-6 related, not FF related...
 
W&B

Could anyone post a screenshot of an RV-6 W&B from their ForeFlight page? I?d like to confirm that I did mine correctly.
Thanks

2019 Dues paid.
 
I have all of the weight figures already. I know the CG range and have the form from Vans. The question is which weight numbers do I use in the minimum and maximum fields for both forward and aft limits.
This is not a W&B question as more a question around which figures to use.
Do I use gross weight for the max forward and aft limit fields? Likewise do I use empty weight for the minimum forward and aft limits
 
There most certainly IS a way to get help from ForeFlight. Feel free to PM me if you have a specific FF question that you'd like answered.

From what I can tell so far, your question thus far is RV-6 related, not FF related...

It is a FF question. I wish there was as a way to speak to someone. I?ll try to figure it out
 
W&B

Thanks for posting your screenshot Carl. I was able to figure out my problem. I was not computing a W&B for takeoff and landing with a changing fuel load for both ends of the flight. Instead I was doing two separate graphs for each phase of flight. One for takeoff and one for landing. Therefor no line indicating CG movement during the flight.
 
I am having this same problem - trying to computer W&B for Foreflight. But I don't see the screenshots referenced above. Anyone mind sharing those again?
 
Foreflight W&B

Here is a profile I set up for an RV-14A. You can go to the downloads section of Van’s website and find sample weight and balances that have the limits and arms for seats and baggage.
 

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Consider changing your forward CG weights from 0 to something realistic like the minimum pilot / minimum fuel weight. This change will expand the view of the CG graph.

I set mine to 1400lbs as this is the lowest weight I could possibly fly at. Give it a try and see if you like it.
 
Is the forward CG the same at empty and gross on RV’s?

I followed your advice and entered 1352 as the minimum for my RV8. 1138 empty, 190 pilot and 24# fuel. This got Foreflight to work, (THANKS!),
but I’m used to seeing W&B charts that have an angle on the left side showing that they can’t be loaded to gross if too much of the weight is forward. The “box” has a nick in the top left corner.
The graph for my RV-8 is a square.
 
I followed your advice and entered 1352 as the minimum for my RV8. 1138 empty, 190 pilot and 24# fuel. This got Foreflight to work, (THANKS!),
but I’m used to seeing W&B charts that have an angle on the left side showing that they can’t be loaded to gross if too much of the weight is forward. The “box” has a nick in the top left corner.
The graph for my RV-8 is a square.

Different respondent here, but yes, the forward CG limit is the same at empty weight and gross weight on the RV-8, so the W&B plot is square or rectangular. There is no forward CG cutoff.

Here is a screenshot of my ForeFlight W&B Setup tab for my RV-8 (for the Utility Category limits). Note the inputs at the bottom left in the red box. I had to set up a separate W&B for the Aerobatic Limits.

i-VdJ9wkh-L.png
__________________________________________________________

Here is a screenshot of my Excel spreadsheet W&B that has all of the limits and Arms for plotting purposes that may be of help.
My RV-8 has the Dash-One wing, hence the Max Aerobatic Gross Weight of 1600 pounds. RV-8s without the Dash-One wing have a Max Aerobatic Gross Weight of 1550 pounds.

i-wdbD9g7-L.jpg

Hope that helps.
 
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I have all of the weight figures already. I know the CG range and have the form from Vans. The question is which weight numbers do I use in the minimum and maximum fields for both forward and aft limits.
This is not a W&B question as more a question around which figures to use.
Do I use gross weight for the max forward and aft limit fields? Likewise do I use empty weight for the minimum forward and aft limits

Same for me! I don't know what weight to use in Forward CG Limit and Aft CG Limit.
 
Double check elsewhere to verify

I think this is what you are looking for?
Forward and aft CG limit.

107.84-116.24 inches aft of Datum.
 
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