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RV Weight and Balance Spreadsheet

WingnutWick

Well Known Member
All,

I know this has been done a few times in a few ways but I liked the idea of being able to visually see where the CG lands while playing around with different factors as well as a weight moved calculator and a weight added/removed calculator.

I have only RV-8, 6A, and 10 on their for my planes but it's easily manipulated for any of the other models. Definitely download it and open in XCEL - graphics don't play well with google viewer.

Hope you all enjoy!

Charles

FILE HERE: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11SeNzFcFdXZp78OCyd-ogx8uZkRq6cwu?usp=share_link
 

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Adjusted a couple things - the new link takes you to the folder vice the file. Right click to download it or click the little arrow on the file icon. Definitely work with it in excel vice on google docs as the graphics don't play well.

Let me know if it works!

The link gets me to view only. Can we play with it or is just for viewing?
 
Very nice!

Re: RV-8. Since you're offering this for general distribution, I'll note that the aerobatic gross weight is 1550 pounds for RV-8s with the non-Dash One wing, and 1600 pounds for RV-8s with the Dash One wing.

Also, the notes indicate that the aerobatic Aft CG limit is 85.3" aft of the datum, which is correct, but the plot doesn't plot it there. Looks like it plots just shy of 85".
 
Thanks! Did some graphic changes and forgot to update that. The file in there now has the correct aft limit plot and the Dash-One delineation. Thanks for the feedback!

Very nice!

Re: RV-8. Since you're offering this for general distribution, I'll note that the aerobatic gross weight is 1550 pounds for RV-8s with the non-Dash One wing, and 1600 pounds for RV-8s with the Dash One wing.

Also, the notes indicate that the aerobatic Aft CG limit is 85.3" aft of the datum, which is correct, but the plot doesn't plot it there. Looks like it plots just shy of 85".
 
Hey Charlie, I love it. But being an old guy, all I know to do is click on your picture, and after that, if I click, its either bigger or smaller. Can you maybe give really good instructions for a computer dummy??

(Were you Navy, or Marine??)
 
Charles, this looks great. I built one for my 7 but yours is much fancier. One enhancement you may want to make is to allow landing fuel to be entered, and plotting a second point for the landing CG. At least on the 7, the CG shifts aft quickly as fuel burns and I've worked out some cross country loadings where I'll be past aft CG if I burn too much fuel. It's a good data point to monitor.
 
Charles, this looks great. I built one for my 7 but yours is much fancier. One enhancement you may want to make is to allow landing fuel to be entered, and plotting a second point for the landing CG. At least on the 7, the CG shifts aft quickly as fuel burns and I've worked out some cross country loadings where I'll be past aft CG if I burn too much fuel. It's a good data point to monitor.

+1. Same is true for the -10; takeoff near either cg limit, cg moves toward that limit as you burn gas. I have an excel spreadsheet that automatically calculates zero fuel cg, as well as takeoff cg. And also calculates cg with front seats and baggage full forward, and again full aft. If everything is okay, you don’t have to enter the actual moment arms.
 
In the OPs' spreadsheet, just move the fuel slider to the number of gallons you'd like the weight and cg calculated for. Once the slider stops moving the weight and cg is recalculated. No need to type in discrete inputs like in a regular spreadsheet. Easy peasy. Download it and try it.
 
That's just an image to show one of the tabs. If you click the link it will go to the google doc folder to which you can right click the file and download to your computer to use. If you open in google docs it doesn't look right.

Navy! Super Hornet :)

Hey Charlie, I love it. But being an old guy, all I know to do is click on your picture, and after that, if I click, its either bigger or smaller. Can you maybe give really good instructions for a computer dummy??

(Were you Navy, or Marine??)
 
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Thanks for the input! Have you tried using the fuel slider? Just put in your weights and then use the fuel slider to set the fuel you want. Should quickly calculate the CG's for the fuel you're expecting on Takeoff/Landing

+1. Same is true for the -10; takeoff near either cg limit, cg moves toward that limit as you burn gas. I have an excel spreadsheet that automatically calculates zero fuel cg, as well as takeoff cg. And also calculates cg with front seats and baggage full forward, and again full aft. If everything is okay, you don’t have to enter the actual moment arms.
 
I couldn’t get it to work on my iPad. I tried my iPhone and no joy there either. I used to use an app called Aviation WB that worked very well on my phone and iPad, but apparently it is no longer supported and doesn’t work either.
 
Hmmm - having the fuel change option is a major part of this. I'll see if I can find a fix for non XCEL users. But in the mean time you can just manually plug it into the FUEL (LBS) cell (incorrectly labeled in LBS vice GAL - fixing this)

The graphics are fine. Everything seems to work except the fuel slider. Nice job.
 
One other suggestion, state somewhere the max baggage weight limits.

For the RV-8 they would be:

  • Fwd baggage compartment - 50 pounds Max
  • Aft baggage compartment floor - 50 pounds Max
  • Aft baggage compartment shelf - 25 pounds Max
 
Good thought! I will add that in and make the colors change to red if you input them over that weight! Over the next week will have an updated one with all the RV models and these suggestions.

Cheers

Wingnut

One other suggestion, state somewhere the max baggage weight limits.

For the RV-8 they would be:

  • Fwd baggage compartment - 50 pounds Max
  • Aft baggage compartment floor - 50 pounds Max
  • Aft baggage compartment shelf - 25 pounds Max
 
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