Builders,
If you are one of the Pietenpol builders who picked up a copy of our new Pietenpol Weight and Balance manual ,, and you would like to send in your data so we can assist you in getting your wing and landing gear into optimized locations, here is the information I will need:
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(A) The type of engine and the proposed propeller.
Ie: ” Ford with wood prop” or Continental 65, hand prop , Wood Prop” Or Corvair with a Warp Drive” Or “O-200 with electric start and a metal prop”
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(B) Length Of fuselage.
Long or Short (IMHO, no one should build a short fuselage plane if they are just starting. It has no advantages. )
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(C) The Pilots’s weight.
Your weight, dressed in a jacket, with headset, ready to fly. It also helps to know the pilots height, as the CG of a 5’6″ 200lb guy is a bit forward of a 6’4″ 200lb guy
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(D) The range of pilots weights
If you have friends who will test fly or likely be trusted to fly your plane, this important, and the most Piets can be set up to cover a 120–150 pound range of pilots. So let me know if you are one of the lightest or one of the heaviest people who will fly the plane. Consider if you will have a kid or grandkid who might fly it when they are in the 120-130lb range.
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(E) Fuel Tank Location(s) and capacities.
Let me know where the fuel tank is, and what capacity it is. If the tank is in the fuselage, please reference its location in inches from the firewall. If you have a 12 gallon fuselage tank, and it is 16″ long, send me a note saying something like “12 gallons, with the center of the tank 9″ aft of the front face of the firewall.”
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(F) Unusual features:
A full plywood fuselage; A glove box with a capacity of more than 8 pounds; Unusually heavy or different tailwheel and spring arrangements; Super light covering like Oratec; Pilots seat back location tilted more than 1.5″ from where the plans show. Please note these differences.
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Where do you send (A) though (F)?
I would greatly prefer if builders send the information right to the comments section here. If you send the information to the comments, in a few days I will come back with a specific recommendation.
If you are a bit concerned about sending your actual weight out on the internet because Cameron Diaz haunts your profile page on Match.com where you shaved 20 pounds off the actual number, and now you don’t want to get busted and have it ruin her image of you as a scrupulously honest character, no worries, I understand completely. Just send the info with your initials, and when she calls me with her suspicions, I’ll totally deny it’s you. Thank me later, it just the kind of guy I am.
Seriously, don’t send in ‘optimistic’ numbers, the subject is a little too serious for vanity to show up in your numbers. Over the years we have had at least 6 successful pilots of Corvair Powered planes who had personal flying weights in the 300+ club, I can get your Piet weight and balance in range if I know the number. If you are 265#, sorry, it will not even make honorable mention in pantheon of pilots who could have been NFL defensive linemen.
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If you would like to watch a one hour forum I gave on Weight and Balance of Pietenpol’s, including an extensive question and answer session, click on the youtube link above, it will take you directly to my channel. If you have not yet done so, please take a moment to subscribe.
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