Simple Flying

JULY 23, 2024

The very straightforward reason behind this is the plane's center of gravity. When landing, commercial aircraft always touch down on the rear landing gear first before the nose gear hits the ground. Ever wondered why?

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Center of Gravity 98

Pilot Institute

MARCH 28, 2025

Weight-Shift Control Weight-shift control is a category of powered aircraft, such as an ultralight trike, with a pivoting wing and fuselage that is only controllable in pitch and roll through the change of the center of gravity (i.e., no control surfaces).

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Weight-Shift-Control Knot Approach Lift 96

Pilot Institute

FEBRUARY 9, 2025

Center of Gravity: Used to calculate and balance the aircraft’s center of gravity. The Chord Line and Centre of Gravity The chord line provides another useful feature for aircraft designers, engineers, and pilots. Where its pivot point is, is called the center of gravity. Imagine a see-saw.

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Center of Gravity Camber Lift Airfoil 59

Flying Magazine

MAY 3, 2024

MightyFly’s Autonomous Load Mastering System (ALMS) autonomously opens and closes the cargo bay door, secures packages in (or ejects them from) the cargo hold, and senses the payload’s weight and balance to determine its center of gravity. The company is working with the Air Force and its Air Mobility Command to develop ALMS.

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Center of Gravity Cargo AGL General Aviation 122

Flight Training Central

MARCH 27, 2024

Learn how to practice them the right way, and how the location of the center of gravity (CG) affects stall speed. This week’s tip, from Sporty’s 2024 Learn to Fly Course , covers a topic that all pilots need to know: power-off stalls.

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Center of Gravity Pilot 52

Flight Training Central

DECEMBER 20, 2023

Take the time to compute the total weight of the airplane and center of gravity (CG) before every flight, based on the number of occupants, baggage and fuel and where each item is positioned in the airplane. The video clip is from Sporty’s 2024 Learn to Fly Course

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Center of Gravity Airplanes 52

Pilot Institute

APRIL 22, 2025

Weight-shift-control aircraft: Powered aircraft with a framed pivoting wing and a fuselage controllable only in pitch and roll by the pilots ability to change the aircrafts center of gravity with respect to the wing. Flight control of the aircraft depends on the wings ability to flexibly deform rather than the use of control surfaces.

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Pilot Weight-Shift-Control Lift Airplanes 86

Cranky Flier

APRIL 1, 2024

And when the MAX was designed, it needed more clearance for even bigger engines, so the engines were pushed forward and up in front of the wing, creating a problem with the center of gravity. MCAS was designed to quietly fix that problem, but instead, it caused two horrible accidents.

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Center of Gravity Airplanes Clearance Pilot 130

Plane and Pilot

JULY 16, 2024

Center of Gravity Graphs and Tables Weight and balance questions are a test of a pilot’s ability to load their aircraft correctly. Example question: When using a VOR test signal, if the course deviation indicator is centered, what should the to/from indicator display? A reference image will be provided during the test.)

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Density Altitude Pilot Center of Gravity VOR 79

iPad Pilot News

MARCH 11, 2025

There’s even an alert for weight and balance when your center of gravity is out of limits. These alerts include runway proximity, traffic, cabin altitude, destination weather, terrain, airspace and TFRs, carbon monoxide and more. Many pilots may not realize that ForeFlight also provides audio alerts with these notifications.

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AGL Runway Groundspeed Descent 52

Vintage Aviation News

FEBRUARY 19, 2025

(Wright State University) The original configuration of the Bell Model 68 was an open cockpit all-metal monoplane with fixed landing gear that was powered by two Armstrong Siddeley Viper turbojet engines with thrust deflectors located at the aircraft’s center of gravity.

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Thrust Center of Gravity Descent Cockpit 94

Vintage Aviation News

OCTOBER 28, 2024

The track of the main wheels was increased, and because they were closer to the center of gravity, there was less weight on the nosewheel. The wing had a six percent thickness-to-chord ratio, and it featured skin panels pulverised from solid alloy plates.

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Center of Gravity Weather Jet 52

Flying Magazine

MAY 10, 2024

You should expect to see questions that show you understand what happens when you change an aircraft’s balance, stability, and center of gravity. Adding weight, for example, can significantly alter the performance of a drone. There is only one task. Example question No.

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Weight-Shift-Control Air Traffic Control Aeronautical Decision-Making Density Altitude 114

Learn to Fly

JULY 11, 2024

This happens regardless of weight, bank angle, temperature, density altitude, or center of gravity. An airplane will, however, always stall at the same angle of attack, called the critical angle of attack. An angle of attack (AOA) indicator can determine the aerodynamic health of the airfoil (wing).

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Airfoil Center of Gravity Density Altitude Drag 40

Pilot Institute

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024

You must also manage where to load specific cargo to maintain the center of gravity limitations. Too much fuel might cause the aircraft to be overweight, and too little will prevent it from reaching its destination. Depending on certain variables, you may need to reduce weight to ensure good performance.

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Weather Center of Gravity Federal Aviation Regulations Turbulence 52

Pilot Institute

MARCH 6, 2025

CG Center of Gravity For any given body, the CG is the average position of the weight distribution of an object. Information transmitted via ATIS can include weather information, NOTAMs, available approaches, or active runaways. ATIS recordings are updated periodically or when there is a significant change in the information.

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Pilot Weather Air Traffic Control NOTAMs 52

Pilot Institute

NOVEMBER 23, 2024

An aft center of gravity increases flat spin risk. A flat spin happens when the center of gravity shifts too far aft (toward the tail), and the aircraft’s rotation becomes more horizontal. Some aircraft can enter flat spins even if their center of gravity is in the normal range.

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Center of Gravity Weight-Shift-Control Aileron Rudder 98

iPad Pilot News

OCTOBER 31, 2024

The weight and balance tool calculates gross weight and center of gravity for a wide range of airplanes. Beyond those essentials, Basic Plus includes some helpful add-ons (which a lot of pilots overlook). For example, the built-in logbook is an easy way to track your currency and maintain your endorsements.

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Weather Approach Pilot Airplanes 52

Pilot Institute

NOVEMBER 1, 2024

Additional Dangers of Ice Accumulation Icing also makes your aircraft heavier and can even change the position of the center of gravity. With thicker accumulations and irregular shapes, drag can get up to two times worse! When ice forms on control surfaces and the propeller, it can cause these components to become unbalanced.

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Pitot Tube Drag Lift Airfoil 52

Pilot Institute

MARCH 26, 2024

This tendency is due to their high center of gravity and heavy engine over the nose wheel. If the nose wheel digs in at high speeds, it can result in a loss of control. In extreme cases, a nose-over can occur. High-wing aircraft with tricycle gear tend to be most susceptible to nose-overs.

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NOTAMs Runway Approach Descent 52

Airspeed Junkie

NOVEMBER 7, 2024

Tailwheel Endorsement A Tailwheel Endorsement is essential for pilots who wish to operate tailwheel aircraft, which have their main wheels located behind the center of gravity. The following subsections will explore some of the most common endorsements and their benefits.

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Pilot Instrument Flight Rules Weather Center of Gravity 52

Aerotime

AUGUST 23, 2024

There is no path to balancing center of gravity with liquified hydrogen inside a narrow body fuselage as it is consumed, so planes that flew any distance would nose down and fall out of the sky. Gaseous hydrogen is far too low energy density by volume to provide any range.

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Center of Gravity Air Traffic Control Jet Lift 328

Aerotime

JUNE 10, 2024

Royal Jordanian strives to reclaim its place It is a fact that the sudden rise of the major Gulf carriers, the so-called MEB3, has managed to shift the center of gravity of commercial aviation in the Middle East. Two years prior, it was neighboring Qatar Airways that chaired this massive annual industry gathering.

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Center of Gravity Airline Airlines Jet 291

Pilot Institute

FEBRUARY 20, 2025

This shifts the ailerons Center of Gravity (C.G.) This makes the aileron more prone to flutter and can also induce buffeting. Aircraft manufacturers balance ailerons by adding weight forward to the hinge. With enough mass added, the C.G. will shift until its exactly aligned with the axis of the hinge.

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Aileron Weight-Shift-Control Rudder Longitudinal Axis 90

Vintage Aviation News

DECEMBER 14, 2024

One of the biggest challenges for the X-29 was the unusual center of gravity, which was affected by the rear-mounting of the forward-swept wings and made the X-29 inherently unstable. This was why the strakes were added to the X-29’s tail, in order to reduce drag from using the trim on the canard in the nose.

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Horizontal Stabilizer Center of Gravity Tail Drag 96

AV Web

MAY 22, 2024

For example, since the main tanks sit forward of the center of balance on my airplane, I was acutely aware that it was possible to “burn” myself out of its aft center-of-gravity limits if I wasn’t careful with fuel management. Specific risks exist, but they are well known. It’s an airplane that has to be flown with care in IMC.

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Tail Instrument Meteorological Conditions Knot Groundspeed 105

Pilot Institute

APRIL 12, 2025

The aircraft pivots about its center of gravity. The elevator raises if you pull back on the stick or yoke. This causes the tail to force air upward ( action ) instead of straight back. This generates a downward force on the tail ( reaction ). The nose tilts upwards as the tail moves down, and the aircraft climbs.

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Lift Torque Thrust Aileron 52

AV Web

MAY 22, 2024

For example, since the main tanks sit forward of the center of balance on my airplane, I was acutely aware that it was possible to “burn” myself out of its aft center-of-gravity limits if I wasn’t careful with fuel management. Specific risks exist, but they are well known. It’s an airplane that has to be flown with care in IMC.

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Tail Instrument Meteorological Conditions Knot Groundspeed 98

Plane and Pilot

MARCH 2, 2025

The only issue with the center of gravity is that the fuel tank is right where your butt is, right behind the seats. The big tank is PMAd (parts manufacturer approval), so it should be easy to swap out one tank and put in the new one, then recalculate your weight and balance. It takes up most of the Robins original large cargo area.

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Rudder Pilot Airplanes Center of Gravity 74

Pilot Institute

NOVEMBER 11, 2024

Placing the center of gravity ahead of the aircraft’s center of lift improves longitudinal stability. Doing so provides more lateral stability since the aircraft’s Center of Gravity (CG) lies below the wings. Longitudinal Stability Longitudinal stability exists about the pitch axis.

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Stability Center of Gravity Aileron Rudder 52

Aerotime

OCTOBER 16, 2024

For example, when we do a cabin interior, the first thing we check is the center of gravity of the cabin. You have to be able to do weight evaluation and calculate the center of gravity. This happened because it had not been designed by people who knew how it worked,” he said. There are these kinds of mistakes.

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Jet Center of Gravity Airline Airlines 293

Pilot Institute

JANUARY 7, 2025

The aircraft ended up being overloaded by 580 pounds, with its center of gravity positioned too far back. This mistake limited the pilot’s ability to control the aircrafts pitch. On top of that, the passenger weight estimates were outdated.

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Weather NOTAMs Pilot Center of Gravity 52

Vintage Aviation News

OCTOBER 16, 2024

These enhancements, along with an increased center of gravity adjustment through the addition of forward ballast, ensured that the Sunderland could effectively defend itself while maintaining balance during flight. The nose turret, initially equipped with a Vickers K machine gun, was later switched to a Browning machine gun.

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Center of Gravity Tail Lift Aileron 52

Vintage Aviation News

AUGUST 22, 2024

That one-ton shift of weight drastically altered the aircraft’s center of gravity, unbalancing my landing trim setting. However, at a mere 500 feet, just before landing, that loud, bellowing buffalo decided to lumber from the back to the front of the cargo bay.

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Weight-Shift-Control Tail Cargo Airplanes 52

Pilot Institute

APRIL 5, 2024

High-wing aircraft are particularly vulnerable due to their higher center of gravity. Keep the aileron deflected into the wind through the rollout. This prevents the crosswind from raising the upwind wing (and wheel), causing a loss of control. It’s tempting to breathe a sigh of relief and relax the controls after landing the aircraft.

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Crosswind Longitudinal Axis Aileron Rudder 52

Plane and Pilot

OCTOBER 3, 2024

Nudging it back to center slid the ball a diameter the other way—trying to corral it in the middle was a bit pointless as it didn’t want to live there. A long wheelbase and reasonably firm gear offset the Gweduck’s high center of gravity to make an easy-handling taildragger.

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Airplanes Rudder Knot Aileron 77

AV Web

APRIL 15, 2025

NTSB says, flight crew attempted to takeoff with the airplane 2975 pounds over the maximum takeoff weight (MTOW), a center of gravity (CG) close to the most forward limit, and an incorrect stabilizer trim setting. Post-almost-flight investigation proved embarrassing. Other than that, what?

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Pilot Airplanes Runway Descent 52