Flying Overweight!

[nigelh]

All i can say is never buy or fly in a crop spraying helicopter !!! When you are strapped in and an idiot is pouring the chemical in , you only know you are overloaded as you lift off....if you stopped to calculate and get rid of a few pounds each time you would be out of a job and your co would go bust !!
There is a lot of rubbish here about weights and wear.....are you saying that an aircraft that does sling load is dangerous? even tho it is lifting more than the internal MAUW ? I dont think so. Cycles i can agree with epecially when dropping a slung load when in the past it was not counted as a landing .
As for being a little bit pregnant....i guess if you ever speed in your car that makes you a criminal ? The speed limit is there for a reason and therefore if you break it you are a dangerous criminal !!! In the real world there are times that you have to make a decision, again i am not advocating flying above MAUW, i am just saying use common sense , you may just need that extra few gallons you decided against as you hit the head wind over the water!!! I would rather be a tad overweight than a tiny bit under fuel

[N Arslow]

I am always concerned about the idiots who flew the aircraft before me... but not at all concerned by those who understand that the limitations section is not advisory.
It is a cumulative thing.

[bladewashout]

When I first solo'd as an R22 student, first few times I carried ballast in the passenger seat, about 60 lbs. I pre-flighted & set it up one day, and instructor said he would just sit in while we got off the pad away from other a/c, 25 degrees, sea level.

Of course we forgot about the ballast. We could only have been 20 or 30 lbs overweight, but the coning as we pulled in collective to lift up into the hover and the RPM droop was hard to miss!

Stayed on the ground, took out the ballast, then no problem lifting at all.

The margin is pretty slim in a 22 between everything feeling normal within limits and it all going pear shaped through overload.

BW

[maxeemum]

Say again Over!

Originally Posted by nigelh

....There is a lot of rubbish here about weights and wear.....are you saying that an aircraft that does sling load is dangerous? even tho it is lifting more than the internal MAUW ? I dont think so....
. you may just need that extra few gallons you decided against as you hit the head wind over the water!!! I would rather be a tad overweight than a tiny bit under fuel

Nige, I understand what you are trying to say however just because a sling load (external load) weighs more than the internal AUW limit isn't really relevant. What is relevant is what is the external load limit (ie limit on the hook is ) and how does this relate to the design MAUW. Internal load limits are designed due floor loading limits, external loads are designed due to hook device limits. The MAUW is the MAUW-Don't exceed it, unless bad people are shooting at you and you having no F - -KING CHOICE. As far as it being dangerous depends upond how heavy the load is, how much power margin you have and what DA you are at, and where you are terminating to, back of a ship, dusty environment, side of a mountain etc. Certainly in the CH-47 most loads are a yawn. In the UH-60 that load gets more interesting and in a 206 or a AS350 or a robbie, best you only carry 1/2 a can of diet coke on the hook to be sure that Total rotor thrust exceeds the weight.

As far as being a tad over weight rather than being a bit under fuel, this is really a planning exercise. Go IFR where you have typically a 15% margin above your normal fixed reserve to counter contigencies like adverse head winds. If the planning says you can't make it then select a better route, or better altitude that is more wind friendly or preposition fuel (OW difficult unless a Navy vessel is in striking distance).

Any how what folks on the thread are trying to say is flying over weight will not result in an immediate negative result, however some where in the future some one will inherit your "poor" descision. You have already advocated your self that exceeding structural limits is for clowns. Clowns belong in a circus not at the controls as the PIC.


My 2 cents.

Max

[rotaryman]

Well said!! maxeemum, allways remembered a wise Instructor once told me, Metal Has Memory!

Make of that what you will..