Doggzilla
Well-Known Member
A few years back I took up a Cessna 172 at almost exactly the maximum weight, and the performance of the aircraft degraded significantly. But only vertically. In speed it was just fine.
I was just thinking it over, and it really seems like the loading is limited by the wing and not the power. The difference between 1 person and 3 at max weight was only a few knots. The real difference was that the wing was at a higher angle of attack, and was struggling to meet minimum climb.
If the speed of the aircraft is nearly unaffected and only climb is an issue... it makes me wonder if maybe we are a little off on wing area. Its still got enough power to go 95%-98% maximum speed... so power is clearly not the issue here.
The net weight is only 15% different between solo and loaded, since almost all of the weight is the weight of the aircraft itself.
It seems to me like perhaps we should be using slightly more wing length. Adding another 2 feet on each wing doesn't seem to bother most aircraft like gliders, ect.
In fact, the long wing Euro sport planes tend to have a higher top speed when loaded. I assume this is because the longer wing is more efficient at the loaded weight.
I was just thinking it over, and it really seems like the loading is limited by the wing and not the power. The difference between 1 person and 3 at max weight was only a few knots. The real difference was that the wing was at a higher angle of attack, and was struggling to meet minimum climb.
If the speed of the aircraft is nearly unaffected and only climb is an issue... it makes me wonder if maybe we are a little off on wing area. Its still got enough power to go 95%-98% maximum speed... so power is clearly not the issue here.
The net weight is only 15% different between solo and loaded, since almost all of the weight is the weight of the aircraft itself.
It seems to me like perhaps we should be using slightly more wing length. Adding another 2 feet on each wing doesn't seem to bother most aircraft like gliders, ect.
In fact, the long wing Euro sport planes tend to have a higher top speed when loaded. I assume this is because the longer wing is more efficient at the loaded weight.
