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Just curious.......on the BC12-D's out there......What is your empty weight. N43354 has a 65 Cont. with a metal prop and no wheel pants.
My empty weight is 802 pounds. I would think this shouldn't be too bad. With a gross of 1200, that leaves me almost 400 pounds to play with. The last 12-D I flew had an empty weight of 874 pounds. That seemed a little heavy to me. I have read of some empty weights being down around 750 pounds........I am not sure how you can restore one and end up that low. I also know a few pilots that overload their aircraft on a regular basis, claiming there is always a built in safety factor. (on a 65 year old airplane I feel that may pushing things). When I fly with an instructor.....he only weighs 145 pounds, I fly with empty wing tanks and only 10 gallons in the nose. With my 180 pounds That puts me at 1187. Add in 1 hand-held radio plus a few maps / tiedowns...etc in the bagage compartment, I am just under gross weight at takeoff. I have always believed the engineers set the gross weights for good reason. The only "built-in" safety factor I see.......If I do no other mods to the airplane....except add floats............the gross weight becomes 1280 pounds....(If I read that right). That would lead me to believe the ole gal has a little "extra" load carrying ability built in.......But not ment to be considered a "fudge" factor...... Just wondered what kind of weight restraints the rest of the Taylorcraft tribe is living with. I see the 1200 pound gross weight as the only drawback to an otherwise great airplane. It sure would have been nice if the standard GW would have been 1300 pounds.....OH...Well Nothings perfect....Thanks : Don in SC
>>>> BTW.....I have been trying to increase my useful load.........(trying to loose a little body fat) CAVU <<<<<
My empty weight is 802 pounds. I would think this shouldn't be too bad. With a gross of 1200, that leaves me almost 400 pounds to play with. The last 12-D I flew had an empty weight of 874 pounds. That seemed a little heavy to me. I have read of some empty weights being down around 750 pounds........I am not sure how you can restore one and end up that low. I also know a few pilots that overload their aircraft on a regular basis, claiming there is always a built in safety factor. (on a 65 year old airplane I feel that may pushing things). When I fly with an instructor.....he only weighs 145 pounds, I fly with empty wing tanks and only 10 gallons in the nose. With my 180 pounds That puts me at 1187. Add in 1 hand-held radio plus a few maps / tiedowns...etc in the bagage compartment, I am just under gross weight at takeoff. I have always believed the engineers set the gross weights for good reason. The only "built-in" safety factor I see.......If I do no other mods to the airplane....except add floats............the gross weight becomes 1280 pounds....(If I read that right). That would lead me to believe the ole gal has a little "extra" load carrying ability built in.......But not ment to be considered a "fudge" factor...... Just wondered what kind of weight restraints the rest of the Taylorcraft tribe is living with. I see the 1200 pound gross weight as the only drawback to an otherwise great airplane. It sure would have been nice if the standard GW would have been 1300 pounds.....OH...Well Nothings perfect....Thanks : Don in SC
>>>> BTW.....I have been trying to increase my useful load.........(trying to loose a little body fat) CAVU <<<<<
Hopefully we will have a west coast flyin this spring and I can take a look at your plane. I really like those tires.
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