Checkride tips | Calculating a cessna 172 weight and balance by hand

[@JohnG-u7f]

Thank you for such "simple to understand" explanations. I haven't flown in years, but I have my PPL. Your, explanations however make the content much more understandable than it ever was when I took the exam.

[@ScottKoonCFI]

You are very welcome. I'm glad to hear your comment about the explanations. I spend a fair amount of time trying to simplify the concepts before I turn on the cameral. It is good to hear I'm somewhat successful. Thank you for the comment! Have a great day!

[@njbpaul]

Thanks for posting, one of the best weight and balance calculation on KZbin

[@ScottKoonCFI]

You are very welcome! I am glad it is helpful!

[@dodgecummins6181]

I paid for an online ground school and hands down your content is better. Quick, concise, and easy to understand. Thank you.

[@ScottKoonCFI]

Wow! Thank you! I am very glad to hear it. Lots more videos to come. I hope the rest are as helpful!

[@madaven818]

This is the best Weight and Balance video I’ve seen. Thanks

[@ScottKoonCFI]

I’m glad you liked it. Thank you!

[@MrSixstring2k]

I echo many of the other replies, your videos are to the point and easy to comprehend.

[@ScottKoonCFI]

I am so glad you are finding them helpful! Please let me know if you have topics you’d like to see a video about!

[@Queenlene0710]

Thanks so much for this video currently working on my PPL and everything seems so overwhelming this was clear and concise. Definitely will be checking out the rest of your vids

[@ScottKoonCFI]

You are very welcome! I am glad you found it helpful. I wish you the best in your training journey. I am creating a list of topics for future videos. Please let me know what you’d like added to my list. Thank you!

[@ronniethepilot]

@@ScottKoonCFI i will definitely let you know. I am on my last stage for my PPL. Will start getting prepped this week for my upcoming check ride. So right now I am just refreshing myself with all this stuff which I have forgotten a little. SO this is an awesome refresher for me. I wish I was able to edit the document so that I could input the info myself because i dont have a printer at the moment. I was also trying to find you on facebook not having much luck. Maybe it will help knowing what you have as a profile pic

[@ronniethepilot]

Nevermind I found you overlooked it

[@shanataholmam2385]

Overwhelming is a understatement

[@ScottKoonCFI]

Hopefully this was less so.

[@drboyce]

Excellent content

[@ScottKoonCFI]

Thank you for the comment!!

[@hishamibrahim4908]

Thank you sooo much Scott, you are really an excellent educator. Wish you the best of everything

[@ScottKoonCFI]

You are very welcome! Thank you so much for the compliment!

[@MagicMartinFish]

Very structured and easy to understand lesson and good humour. Thank you! Earned a sub my friend

[@ScottKoonCFI]

I’m glad you found the video entertaining and helpful. More are coming. Thanks for the comment!

[@mikecoffee100]

This was an Awesome Moment Thank You

[@ScottKoonCFI]

Thank you! Glad it was helpful!

[@DougAdomatis]

Excellent. I'm sharing this playlist with the South Carolina Aviation High School Alliance.

[@ScottKoonCFI]

Excellent! Thank you very much! I hope they find them useful!

[@mabelbell8057]

Just wanted to say thank you so much! Your videos are extremely helpful and you explain more better and in depth than my ground school haha :D

[@ScottKoonCFI]

Thank you for the compliment! I’m glad you are finding the videos helpful!!

[@valberlin9239]

Well done! You should have more subscribers. This is helpful and well presented.

[@ScottKoonCFI]

Thank you! I’m glad you found it helpful. I’m working on more videos, which I think will also be helpful!

[@bakhrommuminov6145]

Thanks 👍👍👍

[@ScottKoonCFI]

You are welcome!! Thank you!

[@mattdorough2694]

Great video Scott!

[@ScottKoonCFI]

Thank you! Glad you liked it!

[@bryantturner97]

This is so helpful. Thank you!

[@ScottKoonCFI]

You are very welcome! Thank you for the comment!

[@Amos-fn7ie]

Perfect

[@ScottKoonCFI]

Thank you!

[@jeffwells1810]

I am confused on fuel calculations, if you start with the empty aircraft weight and you need 10 gallons of fuel for your trip but when you pull your plane out the hanger, it already has 16 gallons of fuel in the tank, how to you account for the extra fuel and weight. Great videos, can't wait to watch more.

[@ScottKoonCFI]

That is a great question! I’ve not heard your question asked during a check ride. However, if you are asked, there are a couple ways you might resolve this issue. You could always fly the airplane long enough to burn the 6 gallons. Or, if you have an approved place/container to put it, you could remove that fuel from the tanks (6 gallons is quite a bit of fuel). During the check ride, the DPE is setting up a scenario where you have to make some difficult decisions. The question is usually “how can you make this trip with all the people and luggage”. The answer is usually “by taking less fuel and maybe having to get fuel along the route”. Please realize, they aren’t asking if you should make that flight, or if you (personally) *would* make that flight. Those questions may come later as follow-ups. In this case they are just asking you to prove your understanding of weight/balance/performance and what the trade-offs may mean. In real-life, I’ve left baggage behind, taken a different, more capable/expensive, airplane, or not flown because I couldn’t get everyone in the plane and stay within weight and balance while still having enough fuel that I felt safe making the trip. In club/rental situations, I’ve also asked the person flying before me to NOT put fuel in the airplane so that I could add what I needed. Estimating someone else’s fuel usage can get tricky, but in these cases we had a tank dip-stick so that I could verify more precisely what was actually in the tanks. Still, be pessimistic. I hope this helps! Thanks for the comment! And I look forward to hearing more from you!

[@shouavang8917]

Nice video scott👍

[@ScottKoonCFI]

Glad you liked it. I’m working on a second that will explain a more in-depth way to calculate weight and balance-while still trying to have a little fun!

[@DCSSicario]

Thanks

[@ScottKoonCFI]

You are welcome!!

[@kowal_1574]

Thanks!

[@ScottKoonCFI]

You are very welcome!

[@alexanderyordanopoulos2430]

How did you find max ramp weight ?

[@ScottKoonCFI]

The maximum ramp weight should be listed in Chapter 2 of the POH. The other weight limitations (including forward and aft CG) will be listed there, too. I hope this helps! Thanks!

[@alexanderyordanopoulos2430]

@@ScottKoonCFI thank you!!

[@ScottKoonCFI]

No problem! Thanks for the question.

[@danhermann2603]

Hello, where is these -300 come from, please?

[@ScottKoonCFI]

Good question! In the chart supplied by Cessna (shown in minute 8:35), it shows the fuel allowance as -7 gallons, but -.3 in the Moment column. However, if you look at the second and third lines in the “Moment” column title, it says “lb.-ins./1000”. Because the rest of the moments on my chart were portrayed as the “full moment” rather than the moment/1000 I needed to multiply -.3 by 1000 to get the full moment of -300. This allowed me to do the math appropriately. I hope this helps. Thank you for the question!

[@danhermann2603]

@@ScottKoonCFI Thank you very much for replying!

[@ZenithE8]

At 6:08 I go down a rabbit hole and am lost.

[@ScottKoonCFI]

Sorry to hear that. Cessna “cheats” a little bit, since they created a chart that allows pilots to skip the Arm and go right to the moment. This “short cut” does hide a quite a bit of the detail that may help you understand. In this video, we work through the entire problem, including defining Weight, Arm, and Moment. kzbin.info/www/bejne/h36acpWGns5jZ8k. Please take a look and see if that helps. Thank you for the question!

[@kimberlywentworth9160]

The really hard part about the weight and balance is asking your passengers how fat they are. They do not like to give there true weight with clothes on.

[@ScottKoonCFI]

That can be a challenge. In sensitive situations, I try to explain how this is for our safety. Then, ask my passengers for a weight estimate. When in doubt, I round up to the nearest 10 pounds. I might round up to the nearest 20 pounds if they seem to be “creative”. It allows my passengers to maintain their dignity while giving us a buffer. I do hope this helps. Thanks for the comment and I hope you continue to stick with us!

[@AwesomeAngryBiker]

You could always ask them to remove their clothes then ask them what their mass is 😂

[@ScottKoonCFI]

🤷‍♂️

[@kurtreber9813]

I calculated my arms but it looks like you didn't calculate any arms on your form. Why is that?

[@ScottKoonCFI]

Good observation and thank you for the question! In many Cessna POH/AFH documents they provide two different weight and balance charts-The “Center of Gravity Moment Envelope” and the “Center of Gravity Limits”. These two charts show the same weight and balance limits. However, one is based on Moments and one is based on the Center of Gravity Arm. For this first video, we used the “Center of Gravity Moment Envelope” and therefore didn’t need to calculate arms to determine whether or not the aircraft was within weight and balance limits. If we had used the other chart, we would have had to calculate the Arms in order to determine whether or not the aircraft was within limits. For an example where I did calculate the Arms, please watch this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h36acpWGns5jZ8k While the example is for a Piper Archer III, the process is the same used for any small aircraft. I hope this helps! Good luck in your training!

[@kurtreber9813]

@@ScottKoonCFI yep, I saw that video about an hour later. Great material and thank you for making me aware of such things

[@ScottKoonCFI]

Not a problem. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@AwesomeAngryBiker]

I'd leave the 190lb friend behind

[@ScottKoonCFI]

🤣. I’ve used (and heard) that answer before. Having said that, we also had a DPE that said, “Nope, find me a way to take everybody and everything.” That meant a lot of fuel stops, but his point was made. Thanks for the comment.

[@ZenithE8]

Nobody ever defines what this very ODD term " Moment" means. Such a BIZARRE term. Doesnt the word " moment" mean a segment in time? Its Highly confusing. Please define moment in this context.

[@ScottKoonCFI]

Kris. I do have another video that spends time defining Weight, Arm, and Moment. In general, weight and balance problems use the physics definition of “Moment”. In short “Moment is the measurement of the torque or tilting force that weight imposes on an airplane. The weight and balance formula “Moment = Weight X Arm” says that the tilting force is the product of weight and how far away that weight is from a specified point. I hope this helps. The formula is described in much more detail in this second video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h36acpWGns5jZ8k I hope his helps!

[@ZenithE8]

Thank you so much. I definately want to watch the other video. This does help! Much appreciated.

[@ronniethepilot]

Hello. Do you have facebook or instagram to add you sir?

[@ScottKoonCFI]

Yes. I have a facebook account: "Scott Koon CFI" It is pretty bare, but I'd love to have you connect! Thanks!

[@ronniethepilot]

@@ScottKoonCFI will do. Im actually watching the weight and balance as we speak. Ill most likely reach out to you on facebook because i had questions