Weight and Balance

Building on the last set of slides in Lecture 4, we embark to perform a weight and balance calculation for the aircraft. This is a calculation every pilot needs to make before flight. The slides below explain how the calculation is done and what the physical reason for it is. PHAK Chapter 10 (Weight and Balance) elaborates on the topic. Weight and Balance data for your specific airplane, and constraints on total weight and center of gravity (CG) location can be found in Section 6 of the Pilot’s Operating Handbook for your airplane (and on the weight and balance sheet of the empty aircraft).

Pilot’s Operating Handbook (POH) / Approved Flight Manual (AFM)

If you can also flip through the Pilot’s Operating Handbook (POH) of a Cessna 172SP before the lecture, this would be helpful, so you have a general idea of what is in the POH and what the individual chapters contain. In particular Section 6, of course, which contains weight and balance, but also all the other sections.