weight and balance

rlallen1

I love flying!
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Dec 12, 2011
Messages
141
Is there a w/b page in the future for SV? would be a nice feature to have.
 

TRCsmith

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Oct 24, 2006
Messages
258
Location
Suisun City, CA
doing a weight & balance on SV? I would think most of us are starting engines and turning on SV to taxi and fly. At that point I think it's a little late to be doing a W&B. Your in the plane with passengers and fuel is loaded.

How about doing it like you do now? It's easier to plight plan
at a table than sitting in the plane. JMHO
 

mmarien

Murray M.
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Dec 26, 2009
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Saskatoon SK CAN
While weight and balance aren't as high on my list as check lists, I think the time of pen and paper flight planning done at the kitchen table is gone with steam gauges. I'll admit that weight and balance for some pilots consists of looking over your passenger and thinking "hell, I've carried more than this before". But there is nothing like bedazzling someone new to flying and getting them accustom to flight preparation in the cockpit by doing the weight and balance, flight plan and a full check list before taxing to the active. Given today's panels it's easy and productive. It also gives your passengers some appreciation of what you do to make it a safe flight and gives them time to get accustom to your experimental plane. Better then sit down, buckle up, shut up, hang on.
 

dynonsupport

Dynon Technical Support
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Mar 23, 2005
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13,226
So that's part of the reason that the feature isn't very high on the priority list. Many of our two-place homebuilder customers would tell us that they basically know exactly what they can put where to stay withing their w&b envelope. There just aren't that many stations to put things in. RV-10s and LSAs (that are used as rentals, in particular), though, might get a bit more utility out of such a feature.
 

jakej

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Oct 10, 2007
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2,206
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Adelaide, Australia
The Flight Planning program I use has W&B capability which I use before I get to the plane. IMO at the plane is not the time to be doing it.

I'd much rather see product development on features that are more useful for in flight.  From my experience some pilots don't use what's available already eg I'm amazed about the number that don't use the Fuel Flow computer despite wanting it as an option - go figure ! 

my .02 cents worth  :)

Jake J
 

mmarien

Murray M.
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Dec 26, 2009
Messages
1,206
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Saskatoon SK CAN
The Flight Planning program I use has W&B capability which I use before I get to the plane. IMO at the plane is not the time to be doing it.
When your passenger shows up with that extra baggage it's nice to be able to point out on an authoritative screen why it won't fit. ;)

I think we were all taught pre flight planning at the desk simply because it wasn't available in the cockpit previously. And I agree, I still do multi leg/day planning long before I pull the plane out of the hanger. The anticipation is almost as good as the flight. I also agree that the computing power on the panel is hardly utilized. Having said all that, I rarely manage to fly the route exactly as planned. The ability to reroute on the ground or divert in the air is a great tool. I think the trend is towards making more use of the stuff on the panel and flight planning is one of them, including W&B and checklists. Even if it consists of plugging in the USB stick to upload a flight plan and rechecking the W&B.

I still believe some of my passengers enjoy the flight more if they are involved in the pre flight preparation even if it's a simple trip for a hamburger that doesn't need a lot of planning other than a W&B check and a DTO.

Will the W&B feature you have planned update the CG based on the fuel flow?
 

preid

Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2010
Messages
754
Location
SoCal
Having the RV-10 and knowing it can handle a whole lot I also see having a W&B on the Skyview as something I would rarely use. I saw another company offer this and thought it was a great concept until I figured out that being inside the plane getting ready to go with the battery on was not the place to figure out if I was within C?G, if not than I need to shut it all down, get out of the plane, etc.. there are too many options out there, I think there are even iphone apps that will allow this. I have a excel spreadsheet made for the RV-10 that tells me in minutes where I stand. I tell my passengers, before leaving their homes, how much they are allowed to bring, etc. There is too much going on at an airport before a flight to figure out another important item, like a Weight and balance.
My vote is; Dynon spend the time developing improvements over a feature that can easily be grabbed right now.
I happen to have a VP that includes checklists on the screen and THAT I see as a great benefit to have in the plane.
 

ttreat

I love flying!
Joined
Mar 23, 2012
Messages
22
+1 Why Dynon can't add checklists is beyond me. They have it in other products.

Hopefully, weather is next on the list.
 

dynonsupport

Dynon Technical Support
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Mar 23, 2005
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Weather is very high on our priority list. Checklists are further down, and W&B kinda medium. We do try to listen, and as you can see, W&B has mixed reviews. But it's on the list.
 
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