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Preparing an Aircraft for Weighing – Weighing Points

Filed Under: Aircraft Weight and Balance

When an aircraft is being weighed, the arms must be known for the points where the weight of the aircraft is being transferred to the scales. If a tricycle gear small airplane has its three wheels sitting on floor scales, the weight transfer to each scale happens through the center of the axle for each wheel. If an airplane is weighed while it is on jacks, the weight transfer happens through the center of the jack pad. For a helicopter with skids for landing gear, determining the arm for the weighing points can be difficult if the skids are sitting directly on floor scales. The problem is that the skid is in contact with the entire top portion of the scale, and it is impossible to know exactly where the center of weight transfer is occurring. In such a case, place a piece of pipe between the skid and the scale, and the center of the pipe will now be the known point of weight transfer.

Figure 4-18. Measuring the nosewheel arm on a Cessna 310.
Figure 4-18. Measuring the nosewheel arm on a Cessna 310.

The arm for each of the weighing points is the distance from the center of the weight transfer point to the aircraft’s datum. If the arms are not known, based on previous weighing of the aircraft or some other source of data, they must be measured when the aircraft is weighed. This involves dropping a plumb bob from the center of each weighing point and from the aircraft datum, and putting a chalk mark on the hangar floor representing each point. The perpendicular distance between the datum and each of the weighing points can then be measured. In Figure 4-18, the distance from the nosewheel centerline to the datum is being measured on a Cessna 310 airplane. Notice the chalk lines on the hangar floor, which came as a result of dropping a plumb bob from the nosewheel axle centerline and from the datum. The nosewheel sitting on an electronic scale can be seen in the background.

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