G-INFO give a max all up weight of 650kg and a different name as the registered owner to either of the two on board, I'd be interested to hear what he has to say.


The AAIB report will be interesting.


I haven't flown a 120 for a very long time but with 2 hefty blokes on board it definitely wouldn't take full fuel, let alone any bags.


SND

...and the photo on G-INFO looks like it is one of the two flying wearing the same shirt! :)

Took an overloaded Cub on a trip to France once - well I took off and landed straight back

Problem was my passenger had some heavy items in his luggage he hadn't told me about (No it wasn't gold bars!)

We were a long way out of trim so the circuit and landing was interesting(!)

Learnt a lot from that event, but not quite in the same way as these guys

:=My 120 (Recently weighed) disposable load is 266kgs. So two big guys @ 100kgs plus baggage min of 30kgs leaves 50ltrs fuel. Reminds me of the Canadian bush pilot persuaded by two hunters to load two moose from their camp because the pilot last year let them bring two moose. As they staggered from the wreckage on a gentle slope, one said "where are we Fred?" "About a mile further than last year!"

Croqueteer - thanks, that is one of the funniest stories I have ever read

thats funny
 

thats funny

The picture says it all really. If it wasn't so embarrassing to the two aviators , it should be hung on the wall at airstrips as a reminder what not to do & why.

Floatplane bush pilots often judge the weight of their load by the position of the waterline on the floats. Hence the famous, probably apocryphal, last words: "Looks like a good Beaver load to me!"

Bearing in mind that each float displaces a volume of water of at least the maximum AUW, you need to pay attention when the floats are half-submerged.

Without knowing how much fuel was on board it is impossible to know if the aircraft is overloaded. I am flying round France two up with bags. If I filled the tank I would be overweight.

Rod1

I suppose a flight from Full Sutton to Calais would require a reasonable amount of fuel on board, unless interim stops were planned, as indeed may have been the case.

Summary: (AAIB report)
The aircraft took of from Runway 04 at Full Sutton Airfield at close to its maximum all-up weight. The reported wind was from 090° at 10 kt. The pilot noticed a slower than normal acceleration during the takeoff roll, which he expected as the aircraft was heavy, but he was airborne before his decision point. Shortly after becoming airborne, at approximately 50 ft, the pilot reported that the aircraft encountered a downdraft and he was unable to prevent it from sinking. The aircraft was unable to climb above the rising ground ahead, and its undercarriage collided with a hedge forcing the aircraft to pitch forward onto the ground, where the undercarriage collapsed and the aircraft came to an abrupt halt. The pilot made the aircraft safe and he and his passenger exited normally.

During its last LAA flight test, at close to its maximum weight, the aircraft reportedly achieved a climb rate of over 600 fpm.

That made me laugh!

What made you laugh?

If I recall correctly, that period in July 2014 was very hot and muggy - unlike this year's pathetic summer.

Quite what effect the OAT would have had on climb performance once out of ground effect, I'm not sure.

It wasn't a good day to climb out of anywhere at mtow. I departed 5 mins earlier and my climb rate in a similar aircraft wasn't great.

Back in '74, A D-120 based at Shipdham was flown over to Amsterdam. The owner got chatting to a rugby team downtown on a bender. Offered on of them a lift back to UK. So, owner was probably around 70kg, but his pax was quite big and had a decent kit bag with him.

Back in Norfolk, I wheeled the a/c back into the hanger, but noticed something odd with the tailwheel. Sternpost was split verticaly, so called the owner, who remembered a slight bump on climb out and told me about the pax and that he was 'slightly' overweight. Seems he had hit an approach light, as I got the bill from the Dutch later.


Robin
We had a regular US client who travelled to europe in one of our Twincoms. A bit after his last charter we had the CID around. Yes, he had been carrying gold bars!

I used to have a D-120.

True empty weight was 390 kg. Max weight was 650kg. = 260kg useful load.
Fuel is 117 liters. ( a D-120 has a 117 liter tank behind the pilots.)

The rest is in the picture.

I say again this report made me laugh.

The AAIB are extremely good at writing their reports . Read it again and note the paragraph about the " reported rate rate of climb" on the last air test.

Note "Reported".