Need some help with a presentation....

[TIMTS]

I have been tasked with giving a presentation/brief to our ground staff about weight and balance in helicopters, especially the 206B3 we fly.

It seems like they think our weight limitations are purely a company guideline and they fail to understand what actually lies behind the rules.

I just wondered if anyone out there have some good stories or examples that can be used to make it sink in that 3370lbs is NOT ok, no matter what the manifest says.....

[HELOFAN]

Dig out lots of pictures that show crashed aircraft because they were overloaded and this stress eventually made the aircraft break in flight due to being overloaded of a long period of time.

Cessna stopped putting long range fuel cells on their 172's cause PPL were giving them full fuel & loading all their crap up like they did when they didnt have excess fuel & things like wing spars and the like would one day bend & a wing snaps off cause it had been had that done to it for a long time & one day gave up being overloaded.

I bet you can find a stack of broken & burnt aircraft to highlight your point.

Aircraft that cant stop on a runway for being too heavy , helicopters the repeatedly have to do running take offs to get ETL to get some fat folk that claim they weigh less, or Loadmasters that under estimate weights of the load so that more can go in.
Ahh she'll be right , this old girl can carry more weight than they say , thats just a safety marging they put it, trust me I have been doing this of years..........

Something like that, I bet NTSB reports are easy enough to filter , just the pictures you really need to bring it all home to folks.

HF

ooh ahh no I cant really help directly , just with suggestions though :E

[ShyTorque]

Just point out to those wanting to carry more than the MGW that overloading the aircraft may (will) also invalidate the insurance. When the accident occurs, the investigation team will discover the actual weight of the aircraft.

Just as the performance of the aircraft is calculated taking into account the weight, the fatigue life of an aircraft and its components also depends on the weight limits being adhered to. Go outside the figures and you are into experimental flying.

[HELOFAN]

Dig out lots of pictures that show crashed aircraft because they were overloaded and this stress eventually made the aircraft break in flight due to being overloaded of a long period of time.
Cessna stopped putting long range fuel cells on their 172's cause PPL were giving them full fuel & loading all their crap up like they did when they didnt have excess fuel & things like wing spars and the like would one day bend & a wing snaps off cause it had been had that done to it for a long time & one day gave up being overloaded.
I bet you can find a stack of broken & burnt aircraft to highlight your point.
Aircraft that cant stop on a runway for being too heavy , helicopters the repeatedly have to do running take offs to get ETL to get some fat folk that claim they weigh less, or Loadmasters that under estimate weights of the load so that more can go in.
Ahh she'll be right , this old girl can carry more weight than they say , thats just a safety marging they put it, trust me I have been doing this of years..........
Something like that, I bet NTSB reports are easy enough to filter , just the pictures you really need to bring it all home to folks.
HF
ooh ahh no I cant really help directly , just with suggestions though :E

[Shawn Coyle]

Not sure if it will help, but the logic goes like this:
Certificate of airworthiness is based on helicopter being maintained and operated within approved design. Approved design references the Type Certificate Data Sheet (TCDS). TCDS has all the limitations in the flight manual, plus maintenance requirements. One of the limitations in the TCDS and FM is maximum weight and CG range.
Operate outside those limits and you therefore invalidate the C of A.
Also at issue are performance problems - all performance is based on maximum weights and CG shown in FM. Handling is also an issue- too far forward with the CG, and you'll run out of aft cyclic, which can be embarrasing if you're trying to stop...
HOpe that helps.

[Hiro Protagonist]

I was not involved in this incident so I don't know the real story, but my helitack foreman claimed that this helicopter (http://braatens.org/ed/GraniteDome.html) was over weight for conditions and used it as an example of why USFS employees are not authorized to ride on non agency carded (approved) aircraft. Incredible that all walked away from this crash.