New to rPod

Originally posted by GlueGuy My Long-EZ would fall on its butt if you put the nose wheel down with no one sitting in it. A pilot needed to be > 110 lbs in order to stay inside the envelope. The most extreme case of w&b I'd ever seen was a cowboy flyer I met in Northway Alaska. He was flying an all-black Cessna 210. He'd flown into Northway with all the seats (except the pilot seat) removed and three 55 gallon barrels strapped in the back. He was picking up diesel fuel for his dude ranch somewhere south of Northway. His explanation to me was that he filled the barrels until the nose wheel started to lift off the ground. He'd throw something into the one remaining seat to bring it down. As far as he was concerned, it would be "in balance" when he got in to fly.

Yeah i’ve heard that about EZ’s. And unlike a conventional aircraft falling on its butt is a static prop strike not just a scratch on the rear tiedown hook.

Note to self: decline any offers to fly with cowboys in black Cessna 210’s. The black paint job would raise my eyebrows anyway. Not a great color choice to paint a civilian aircraft for legal usage IMHO.

Never get complacent, listen to the Loadmaster!

Originally posted by offgrid I did a little informal survey a couple years ago and found that there have been several reported rpod sway events right around or just below the traditional 10% minimum tongue weight limitation. Since then I keep my tongue weight at 11% or higher. You are right to be concerned about water tank weight, in the case of my 179 moving a fresh tank full of water (outbound) to a gray tankful (inbound) changes the tongue weight by 3%, so depending on your tow vehicle’s max tongue weight spec it can be challenging to keep everything “in the envelope”, especially if you boon dock and lug water around.

I once put two ladies in the rear seats of my Grumman tiger and it dropped on its tail before us larger front seaters could get in. That prompted me to recalc my w&b. We were in the cg envelope but not by a lot. The flight was uneventful so the math works.

I did a little informal survey a couple years ago and found that there have been several reported rpod sway events right around or just below the traditional 10% minimum tongue weight limitation. Since then I keep my tongue weight at 11% or higher. You are right to be concerned about water tank weight, in the case of my 179 moving a fresh tank full of water (outbound) to a gray tankful (inbound) changes the tongue weight by 3%, so depending on your tow vehicle’s max tongue weight spec it can be challenging to keep everything “in the envelope”, especially if you boon dock and lug water around.

Great idea, thanks! I routinely do W&B calculations on a variety of aircraft..

Makes sense to do it on our 178. I am concerned that the prior owner added a heavy MEMORY FOAM mattress to the aft bed location.... adding the tank liquids appears to cause a dangerous aft CG! (I'm always been cautious in taildraggers).