737-200 Combi Weight & Balance - Help

[HighFlyer737]

My company will be acquiring four to six Boeing 737-200 Combi's and my boss has thoughtfully nominated me to get a weight and balance progam approved.

I was just curious as to what forms you're using to keep the Combi's loaded within limits.

If anybody could please get in touch with me and maybe email me a scan of the worksheets they use I'd be forever greatful.

It's a pain designing a foolproof (pilotproof?? he he) worksheet that takes into consideration the various load configurations a Combi can go through on a daily basis.

Once again thank for helping out a fellow aviator.

PS I don't care what company the stuff comes from, if you want you can black out any identiy from the scans. I just want to see what everyone uses. Could be stuff from Combi 727's as well.

[john_tullamarine]

Please be VERY careful when looking to plagiarise other sheets and systems. The system you end up with MUST be tailored to YOUR aircraft tails and certification.

So far as the 732 is concerned, the aircraft is pretty straightforward for loading systems. The other Type consideration is that you may be able to jury up a standardised sheet to cover all the hulls rather than have a multiplicity of sheets. If you intend to look at setting up a computerised system on your own, be very careful as there are LOTS of traps for young players. Overall, if your operation is reasonably small, trimsheets are much simpler and better geared to making idiotproof.

One of the traps is that different systems may look superficially similar but the guts can be very different.

I recall one case where one of my trimsheet designs was reviewed in court following a fatal. When asked a question by the mouthpiece the Chief Pilot could only return with a comment along the lines of "XX's trimsheets all look the same".

That is done quite intentionally for standardised usage. However, on a number of occasions I have seen less competent weight folk pinch my sheets and get it horribly wrong. For instance, on one occasion, an operator's Chief Pilot contacted me to say that he "couldn't make the trimsheet work" ... over coffee it took 10 seconds to establish that someone else had done some work on the aircraft, reissued the loading data and, in the process, scheduled inappropriate trimsheet entry arguments.

Particularly with trimsheets, be VERY aware that most designers do not use the OEM's datum and this can cause all sorts of strife in line execution ....

Suggest that, when you work out the style of loading system you wish to run with, you get a competent weight control (wo)man to review it for accuracy and usability. At the end of the day, putting the educational value to yourself to one side, you will save dollars and time just outsourcing the production to an appropriate weights man.

[CaptainSandL]

I agree 100% with JTs comments. Just to add that you should be able to get a copy of the W&B Manual from MBF and beware that 737s with an SCD are very nose heavy due to the weight of the door.