Very much agree with this. Even slightly aft CG can make for a very different handling plane and not one I want to be in.
And once again. I’m not saying to ignore the POH I’m just saying there are a lot of factors. Nothing at all with saying don’t ever fly a single pound over gross under any condition. All I am saying is there are far more risky things you could do within the limits of the POH than fly 100lbs over gross within CG limits from a long runway far away from mountains in cool weather.
Personally, I would never fly my plane overloaded or even close to UL. For your UL of 1100, does that include everything in the baggage compartment and any other items in the plane most people never consider.
Hi Duane and Welcome to COPA!
As you can see from these responses, the COPA community is very tight and we are always here to help each other out. You will love being a member! There are a lot of threads on buying a Cirrus on the members side of the wall. You’ll get your money’s worth in about 10 minutes!
There are some folks out there that are not “Cirrus” people spreading misinformation about the plane. Belonging to this group will give you access to some real good information from:
Owners, former owners and Pilots of all generations of Cirrus, including Jets
CSIP Instructors - Cirrus Standardized Instructor Pilots that truly know about how to fly these birds
Non CSIP instructors that are unparalleled in the aviation community
Maintenance shops that can tear down a Cirrus with their eyes closed
Folks with literally 20+years of Cirrus experience
We look forward to having you as part of our COPA family!
COPA’s practical advice is simple: stay “legal” at all times except in cases of a true emergency. There is no such thing as an emergency takeoff.
If a pilot is willing to fly over MGW, the question often comes up: What other regulations will this pilot violate because they think it is OK to do so?
Duane, I see you have had a Private Pilot certificate for 9 months. Congratulations on that accomplishment, but you still have a lot to learn. Whether intentionally or not, you are already heading down a dangerous path by even considering this. The fact that you posed this question on a public forum makes me think you really don’t get what a big deal this is. Heed the advice of those who say that you should follow the regulations precisely and without question.
You beat me to it. One of the things I like about ForeFlight’s new W&B capability is that you can pre-define the weights and locations for all of that falderal that we all carry and it’s effectively added by default to your empty weight (BEW) and CG for every flight.
I would treat the max useful load as biblical. 95% of the time might get away with going over, but it’s that 5% that will really sting you. Anyone who has flown for any length of time can tell you about the times that they were UNDER max useful and still climbed out anemically (high density altitude, loss of some engine power, hot day, prevailing winds, downdrafts, wind shear, etc) You have to plan for less than perfect takeoff performance. That’s why manufacturers are required to leave headroom in the max useful load numbers.
By crashing a lot more than we do in the lower 48.
A friend of a friend died there a few years ago when he got the Beaver off the water but couldn’t keep it in the air because it was loaded over gross. Really smart, generally thoughtful young guy who was probably a good stick who made it work other times (or saw others do so) but ran out of margin that day.
The line between “just barely able to fly” and “just barely not able to fly” is very thin but sometimes it’s the line between life and death. Book gross provides some padding because you probably don’t know exactly where the real line is, or how close you’ll come to it on your next romp in the skies.
It was 100 degrees at time of takeoff. The calculated density altitude for Cameron Airpark at the time of the accident was 4,125 feet MSL. There was a wind shift in play as well. But the point is that even at “only” 100 points over gross, you can get in deep Bandini.
Agreed, but there’s always a wind shift there and the temperatures are in that range quite often. Point is, it can work out … until it doesn’t one day … and that video had an impact on me so thought it was worth sharing.
My backside still hurts from the thread where I suggested flying my plane in a manner consistent with my POH when the newer POH (for different S/Ns) has different approved procedures.
Based on that I saw the tread title and grabbed my popcorn.
This is a tough one. I agree with all comments, however, I suspect Duane will not be our newest member. Kudos to @jmills for the most constructive response.
