Cg
 

Hi all,
Just a quick question. When loading your aircraft do you keep it in the back of the mind that having an aft CG will give you a higher TAS, slower stall speed and less induced darg meaning less fuel burn in the end.

or in plan terms do you just load and go?

thanks in advance,

Shnee :)

Every time the price of fuel climbs, someone new will rediscover this bit of aeronautical truth. A F/E at United got a nice bonus for suggesting this back in 1963.

And swept-wing aircraft with center-section fuel (i.e. tank well fwd of the CG) are almost always best managed if the center tank is burned off first.

BTW: this can only be true if the stab has negative lift (decalage). If anyone knows of an aircraft for which this is NOT true (a canard for example) then the aft CG/reduced drag paradigm will not apply.

Our computerised loading system defaults to an aft CG, unless overidden, all in the interests of fuel conservation.

I would have thought that burning centre tank fuel first had more to do with wing bending relief than fuel saving, although it is a contributing factor.

Regards,

Old Smokey