PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - In-flight calculation for Centre of Gravity
Old 27th Feb 2007, 18:59
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Loose rivets
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Hello hudla84.

Well, the first thing to find out is wether modern Flight Management Systems already do this. If they do, you will be re-inventing the wheel. I'm sure there will be several people on here that will let you know about the most modern or so-called "state of the art" systems.

But for now, let us just look at a very simple aircraft, as the concepts are fairly straight-forward.

Imagine an aircraft in the cruise. Imagine that it is right in the middle of it's C of G range and the control trims are exactly in the middle of their normal range. If the fuel or load changed, it would be necessary to alter the trim to maintain level flight without putting pressure on the main controls. The amount that the crew would alter the trim tabs is very precise, BUT, the indications of such a movement would be less than perfect in older aircraft, so it would be difficult to get this information back to a simple display. This is where modern electronics come in.

Precise position data can now be sent from any moving part in digital form. Data from trim tabs for example, sent to a computer, would allow all sorts of calculations to be made.

Let's see what others have to say.
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