C of G and load envelope
I have been playing with the load/balance figures in the C172M POH - I made a simple spreadsheet so I could easily try different combinations of weights and positions.
There is no mention of how handling and performance deteriorates/improves as the intersection of moment and weight moves around within the polygon of the envelope. It appears that we go from 'ok' to 'not ok' instantly when leave the envelope. I am sure that is not true, so I guess my question is, what does the performance gradient look like within the envelope? If it was surface on the z axis, would it be gently sloping? and where would the peak of optimal performance handling be?