I borrowed scales from a fellow EAA chapter member to do the
weigh in. After a couple snafus with getting
the scales to power on, things went pretty well. I used a bathroom scale to weight the
tail, but calibrated all the scales by jumping on them myself and confirming I
weight the exact amount on all three scales.
Now I don’t weight as much as an airplane, but definitely enough to confirm
the scales had plenty of weight on them and were all providing the same
results.
I rolled the plane up onto the two main wheel scales first,
then raised the tail to level out the longerons at the cabin area which confirms
a flight level attitude. To achieve this
the tail has to be really high, but this is the only way to properly weigh the
plane. Here are some pictures and the
final results.. Basically she came in
at a great empty weight and light enough on the tail to give plenty of loading
options.
Empty Weight: 1087
lbs
Useful load: 713 lbs
Tail Wheel: 66.5 (Rounded to 67)
Right Main: 508
Left Main: 512
The empty CG came it at 80.34 which isn’t as far forward as
it could be (the further forward the better) but definitely in a good position. The valid
CG Range is 78.80 -86.82.. I won’t go
into all the details of aircraft weight and balance, but it’s very critical and
things are looking good for 704CH !
