How to put the plane on a diet?

[Marauder]

You might not want to do that

 

I'm sure I wouldn't, but at the end of the day, sitting a hundred pounds heavier than your paper weight says would not be good either. Just curious if anyone updated their weights and what the end result was.

[FlyDave]

And finally, reducing body weight is probably the most helpful, healthy, and least expensive!  My weight has crept up over the last 18 months and I'm currently trying to nudge it back down in advance of my wedding in 4.5 weeks...

 

Congratulations Scott!!

Does she like to fly?

[KSMooniac]

Congratulations Scott!!

Does she like to fly?

 

Thanks!  I won't say she likes to fly in that she won't really go up to bore holes in the sky with me, but she has grown to appreciate the utility and time savings of the Mooney.  About 6 weeks after we started dating she went on a ~500 NM trip with me (along with my brother, sis-in-law, infant) to a friend's wedding in SE Texas and did fine with it, although she was nervous in the bumps during the descent through some cumulus clouds.  Since then, we've flown to several football games, a couple times to CO (including over the Rockies at 17k on O2), to Delaware and NYC and back, etc.  She still doesn't like getting tossed around in the clouds, but knows that I won't put us in a bad situation so that is good enough for me!

[fantom]

 She still doesn't like getting tossed around in the clouds, but knows that I won't put us in a bad situation so that is good enough for me!

 

Glad to hear it, Scott, and congratulations once more on your coming nuptials.

 

Based on the history of many married pilot friends, a lot of wives become less and less enamored with flying after they have the ring. Hoping your experience differs!

 

 

 

 

[KSMooniac]

 

Glad to hear it, Scott, and congratulations once more on your coming nuptials.

 

Based on the history of many married pilot friends, a lot of wives become less and less enamored with flying after they have the ring. Hoping your experience differs!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks.  I sure hope I don't have that experience too... 

[Hank]

My wife swears she didn't know I was interested in flying until I was signing up for lessons. But she cheerfully rides along in the Mooney, and really appreciates the time savings vs. driving. She continues to maintain no interest in getting a PPL; I think she is intimidated by the large stack of books and all the time I was off at the airport for lessons. Fine by me, I get to do all of the flying.

 

May it work out as well for you, Scott!

[Mooneymite]

Has anyone ever done a reweighing of their plane to see how much difference there is between the paper weight (pun intended) to the actual weight?

 

 

If you're looking for that elusive gain in useful load, do NOT weigh your plane!

 

Ask me how I know!

 

Okay, I'll tell you anyway.

 

I bought my plane in 1998.  Years ago, after a concentrated program of getting rid of "stuff" like boat-anchor DME, ADF and useless wires, connectors, etc. I was carrying, I had my plane weighed and the empty weight was still MORE than the weight and balance showed.  We rechecked everything...amount of oil, fuel on board, dust, dirt, EVERYTHING.  Then we checked the scales....dead on.

 

Planes gain weight with age.  It's a proven fact.  Owners and their mechanics tend to under estimate modifications .

 

From now on, all my empty weight numbers will be derived mathematically!

 

No more reality for me.

 

 

.

[Bob_Belville]

If you're looking for that elusive gain in useful load, do NOT weigh your plane!

 

Ask me how I know!

 

Okay, I'll tell you anyway.

 

I bought my plane in 1998.  Years ago, after a concentrated program of getting rid of "stuff" like boat-anchor DME, ADF and useless wires, connectors, etc. I was carrying, I had my plane weighed and the empty weight was still MORE than the weight and balance showed.  We rechecked everything...amount of oil, fuel on board, dust, dirt, EVERYTHING.  Then we checked the scales....dead on.

 

Planes gain weight with age.  It's a proven fact.  Owners and their mechanics tend to under estimate modifications .

 

From now on, all my empty weight numbers will be derived mathematically!

 

No more reality for me.

 

 

.

Yeah, my plane's owner, two before me, was a Delta captain and a stickler for details (the headsets and flash light were on his W&B form). He had the plane weighed but went back to the factory weight and recalculate with all the adds and minuses and use that as the new weight. The result of the actual weighing is nowhere to be found in all the many records I inherited.

[mike_elliott]

Thanks.  I sure hope I don't have that experience too... 

The secret is to make the plane an integral part of her activities and hobbies also. You share your mooney with her desires, she will share her muni with yours!

[fantom]

The secret is to make the plane an integral part of her activities and hobbies also. You share your mooney with her desires, she will share her muni with yours!

 

Mike, we had a long discussion about the Mile High Club about a year ago, you lucky dog!

[Mooneymite]

The result of the actual weighing is nowhere to be found in all the many records I inherited.

 

 

I resemble that remark!

[N201MKTurbo]

When I re did the interior of my F about 15 years ago I gained 20 pounds of useful load. Part of the process was removing all the interior including the fiberglass. I scrubbed out the whole plane with a bucket of soap and water and a hose. I replaced the insulation with EAR insulation.

 

I had previously completely rewired the avionics. This produced about a one foot high pile of wires that went nowhere.

 

I was surprised the weigh in was as close to the book as it was.

 

 

On another note, I recently replaced my wing walk. I stripped it down to bare metal. I put all the removed material in a 5 gallon bucket as I scraped it off. There was at least 4 layers of old wing walk paint on the wing. I didn't weigh the bucket, but I bet there was 20 pounds of stuff in there.

[mooniac15u]

I'm surprised nobody has suggested stripping off all that heavy paint and going with a polished aluminum look.

[rbridges]

 

 

 

On another note, I recently replaced my wing walk. I stripped it down to bare metal. I put all the removed material in a 5 gallon bucket as I scraped it off. There was at least 4 layers of old wing walk paint on the wing. I didn't weigh the bucket, but I bet there was 20 pounds of stuff in there.

 

how did you strip down the wing walk?

[N201MKTurbo]

how did you strip down the wing walk?

 

I masked the good paint with aluminum tape and then regular masking tape and paper. I removed the trim around the wing and masked the fuselage.

 

I used paint stripper from Home Depot. I started with plastic and aluminum scrappers but had to switch to an old wood chisel ( be careful). It was a real PITA. It took 8 hours of stripping and scrapping to get the old stuff off. When I was done I washed it with MEK, lightly sanded it to remove the remaining residue then washed it again with MEK. I sprayed it with Zinc Chromate and went home.  

 

The next day I removed all the masking tape. There was a small paint ridge where the wing paint met the old wing walk. I carefully knocked it off with a wood chisel. This took an hour or so. I then masked it again with masking tape about 1/16 inch further out then the old paint line. I used Ultra Wing Walk which is a urethane rubber product. I applied it with a roller and a paint brush. It looks beautiful!

[Shadrach]

RE; wing walk, wouldn't it have been easier to just start with MEK? I've contemplated ways of masking off the wing walk and sealing it off so that I could saturate the the old material and minimize evaporation, while protecting the wing paint. Have not completely figured out how I'm going to do it, but there must be a way to do it with out going mid-evil on it.  Wood-Chisel + Aluminum = scary...

[N201MKTurbo]

I saturated it with methylene chloride paint stripper. Which works better then MEK. The stuff is just hard to get off, it is full of sand. The chisel barely ever touched the aluminum. There was original paint under the old wing walk which was pretty tough. It stopped the chisel from getting to the metal.

I would hesitate from using large amounts of MEK for fear that it would seep through the cracks and degrade your tank sealant.

[jetdriven]

 

Glad to hear it, Scott, and congratulations once more on your coming nuptials.

 

Based on the history of many married pilot friends, a lot of wives become less and less enamored with flying after they have the ring. Hoping your experience differs!

 

 

 

 

 

[jetdriven]

Has anyone ever done a reweighing of their plane to see how much difference there is between the paper weight (pun intended) to the actual weight?

I'm not letting my plane near a scale.  Thats a shooting offense.

[WardHolbrook]

I apologize if this has already been mentioned, but if you need to gain a quick 70 pounds of useful load just take a tip from the guys who fly jets and turboprops - fuel for the trip. Honestly, how often do you need to fly nonstop to the very limit of your range? SOP for jets and turboprops is to fuel for the planned distance then add a reserve. I personally use 60 minutes for most trips. However, if there's weather or other factors the reserve fuel increases. The fuel you don't carry is extra weight that you can.  

[WardHolbrook]

I'm not letting my plane near a scale.  Thats a shooting offense.

Denial is not a river in Egypt. The airplane has no idea what the paperwork says it weighs, it only knows how much it really weighs. Heaven forbid, if you were to ever have an accident or incident that gets the feds involved, the first thing they'll do is weigh the airplane - if they can. (Wince)

 

Do you really want to be flying your airplane over max allowable gross weight for whatever reason? 

[jetdriven]

The fact is it is legal at the stated weight and balance data on the W&B.  That is traceable all the way back to when it was new. In reality most planes are over the weight stated, and most planes were not even weighed at the factory. The weight is an estimate.

Only part 135 and 121 airplanes are required to be weighed every 36 months, and then they use estimated passenger and baggage weights.   Further, when an airplane crashes, and they refer to the weight and balance in aircraft records for data.  They don't go beyond that and weigh the crashed plane, and even if they did, there was no violation because it was legal.

 

Do I intentionally overload my airplane? No. Is it actually over 2740 pounds at takeoff sometimes? Probably.  As my reply to an FAA inspector who enroute inspected me on the 1900D and the CRJ, when asked the same question. The answer is "Yes,  but it is fully in compliance with weight and balance regulations, including the approved passenger weights and carry-on baggage program you approved."

 

The idea the M20J later was approved for 2900 LB gross weight with very minor changes to the airplane tubular structure and the M20J Missile conversion was approved for 3200 LB gross weight with ZERO changes to the aircraft structure tells me the aircraft is structurally strong enough to fly at those weights without issue, it is simply a performance problem.

[Bob_Belville]

 

 

The idea the M20J later was approved for 2900 LB gross weight with very minor changes to the airplane tubular structure and the M20J Missile conversion was approved for 3200 LB gross weight with ZERO changes to the aircraft structure tells me the aircraft is structurally strong enough to fly at those weights without issue, it is simply a performance problem.

And my E with a MGW of 2575 has the same HP, the same wing and gear as Fs and Js with their 2740 and 2900 MGWs. But I have never landed over gross and I will not do it again. Let the flames begin.

[Shadrach]

And my E with a MGW of 2575 has the same HP, the same wing and gear as Fs and Js with their 2740 and 2900 MGWs. But I have never landed over gross and I will not do it again. Let the flames begin.

   

 

Hmmmmm....

[1964-M20E]

I was just looking at my W&B sheets for my former E model and my current F model and the E model with lower max weight 2575LBS vs. 2740LBS for the F, my E had 3 more pounds of useful load than my current F model.