Factory interest

[Ben Fitzgerald-O'Connor]

Hi all, Good news that the factory are taking an active interest now in this forum. There have been factory members for years of course. So if you have any questions for them you know they will see these, and hopefully respond.

I've been asked to make a correction to aircraft weights - apparently the planes will now come below an empty weight of 400Kg which is a figure I'd previously been given and listed in good faith.

The factory are not able to tell us the exact weight of planes coming off the production line now as this is regarded as confidential information. However if any owners have had their planes weighed or have their POH figures to hand from original factory weighing when empty, perhaps you could post your weights, year and equipment specs eg BRS etc. ) - this way we can all get an accurate idea of how much weight each option adds.

To start this off, our 2009 SportCruiser with BRS, Twin Dynon D100 & D120, and Autopilot is 380Kg from the POH. I'm told that a very bare spec (absolute min instruments and kit) plane might be 360Kg - does anyone have one that light?

[Ben Fitzgerald-O'Connor]

On the CSA website at the moment they list the empty weight of a min spec plane with empty fuel tanks as being 374Kg. So if you add equipment and fuel (114 litres  -57x2 full capacity - f in all, then you get the remaining useful capacity for pilots, baggage etc.

So on a min spec plane of 374Kg with bare equipment, if you fill the tanks then this would add 84Kg of unleaded which brings you to 458Kg, or 141Kg left for pilots, baggage and your maps etc. If you have any equipment beyond the minimum in your spec like BRS (approx 15Kg with harness) etc then add the extra weight to get to what yours would weigh in a given configuration.

This is important to make sure that you are legal to fly and that your insurance is valid. In European countries like Germany it is also common practice to weigh a plane randomly on the ramp and issue a nasty fine if you are overweight so best be within limits by design in the first place.

[Dave Fisher]

Its not polite to ask a girl her weight or age....Sally is 860# = 390 Kg. Dynon D100 + D120, AP74/HS34, Garmin 696, ELT, with a BRS. 2010 PiperSport.