Good news!
Easy answer...Hello All
I understand that the decathlon 1800 Lb max weight for aerobatics protects for 6 G’s. And someone on this forum said earlier, that if a plane was approved for 6 G’s, then it must have been designed to handle 9 G’s.
Question: Since many of us might not want to pull 5 or 6 G’s when we fly, how much extra weight do most people feel is okay to fly aerobatics?
The old adage is, if you fly just a pound over max weight, then you become a test pilot.
But technically speaking, since Normal Category is 1950 lbs max, and normal category allows up to 3.8 G’s, then, technically speaking, you could fly aerobatics at 1950 lbs if you maintained less than 3.8 G’s. I am not advocating or recommending this ... It is more of an academic consideration.
But as I am pushing 215 pounds in my late 50’s, it’s becoming harder to find a decathlon I can fly without finding a 100 pound jockey instructor.
Is there any unofficial guidance that suggests we can fly aerobatics 10, 20, or 30 pounds overweight if we fly lower G’s. What is the community thought? At what weight do folks think there is a safety issue?
Thanks very much
What numbers are you looking for? I have a 77 FP 8KCAB, so same plane.Does anyone have numbers for a 1978 Fixed Pitch Decathlon?
A Red one or a Blue one?What's the empty weight of a fixed pitch vs CS Decathlon?