Many pilots, from sport pilot to commercial pilot, tend to underestimate the importance of proper weight and balance of their aircraft. Load sheets are taken for granted and hasty calculations are made of the aircraft’s CG. Unfortunately, each year there are a number of accidents related to weight and balance issues. Many of these occurrences could have been avoided had more attention been given to weight and balance.
Every student pilot is taught how to work a weight and balance problem and that it is important to make sure every flight is loaded “within the envelope” (no more than maximum gross weight) for both takeoff and landing. But does he or she really understand just why this is so and the disastrous effect of being out of the envelope? Two examples of documented cases are provided below in an effort to indicate the serious nature of maintaining the proper weight and balance. In case studies when weight and balance was listed as the major factor of the accident, many were fatal.
For instance, a small aircraft was loaded with hunters, gear, and dogs (none of the dogs were secured inside the aircraft). During takeoff, all the dogs went to the aft of the airplane. This shifted the CG well aft of its allowable limit. The airplane stalled and crashed. The airplane was destroyed with casualties. Another accident occurred when a group of skydivers were sitting on the floor toward the aft portion of the airplane (they were unsecured). During takeoff, the CG was again well beyond its aft limit. The airplane stalled and crashed. The airplane was destroyed with casualties.
There is a safety factor built into the formula for maximum gross weight. Any airplane can fly when it takes off at a weight greater than maximum gross weight if the runway is long enough and the density altitude is low enough. However, landing is a different matter. All airplanes are built to withstand an occasional hard landing, but what would happen if the hard landing were combined with a substantially overweight airplane? Something would probably break at that time or the structure would be weakened enough to break sometime in the future when everything might seem normal to a pilot unaware of the previous situation. Even more disastrous than an overweight, hard landing is reaching or exceeding the structural integrity of the metal and/or composite design values when maneuvering or when turbulence is encountered. Hidden damage could result, causing an unexpected catastrophic failure at some future time.
If an airplane is certificated with a maximum gross weight of 6,000 pounds (its weight on the ground) and is rolled into a 60° bank, the forces exerted make it feel as if it weighed 12,000 pounds. At its maximum certificated gross weight, there is no problem because the aircraft is operated within its certificated maneuvering loads. But loaded to 8,000 pounds with a 60° bank or an abrupt pull-up, it suddenly weighs 16,000 pounds and might not be able to perform! Even if it could, there would probably be internal stress damage that would show up on future flights.