WEIGHT AND BALANCE CALCULATION FOR THE FLIGHT1 CESSNA CITATION MUSTANG

By Kurt "Yoda" Kalbfleisch

FSX does not do a terribly good job of modeling weight and balance changes.  It can be very easy to render your aircraft unflyable by modifying the weight distribution within the FSX Fuel and Payload interface.  For that reason, none of what is included in this package is supported by Flight1.  If you have difficulty with the flight model after making these modifications, the only advice you'll get from me or anyone else associated with Flight1 is to restore your default aircraft.cfg.

Therefore, it's important to understand what your airplane's limits are before you go messing around with "seating arrangements".  I've done what I can to make this as simple as possible, but it isn't easy to keep this airplane within its very narrow CG limits.  Try a few loads variations and you'll see.  (Note also that the weight and balance of the real airplane is still more complex; I have not included the drawers and cabinets you'd have to account for in the real thing.)

INSTALLATION:

1.  Save a copy of your original "F1_Cessna Mustang\aircraft.cfg" file in a safe place.

2.  Cut and paste the contents of the "Mustang Weight and Balance.txt" into your F1_Cessna Mustang\aircraft.cfg, overwriting the section entitled [WEIGHT_AND_BALANCE].

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Identify the weight changes you want to make, and enter them into the light green fields.  The calculator will total up your payload weight and figure the payload moment, then enter that information into the correct fields on the right side of the form.  Note your zero fuel weight.  If the zero fuel weight exceeds 6750 pounds, the field will turn red.

2.  Enter the total fuel onboard into the blue "Fuel Loading" field.  Consult the Wing Tank Loading table at the bottom of the form to obtain the moment of the fuel load.  Enter the fuel load moment into the pink field next to the total fuel loading field.

3.  Note that the ramp weight and takeoff weight values have been calculated for you.  If either of these values exceeds the maximum for the aircraft, they will turn red.  Also note that the CG at takeoff has been calculated for you, and that the CG field will be green if the value is within limits, and red if it is not.

4.  Enter the expected fuel use into the blue field on the "Fuel To Destination" line.  Consult the Wing Tank Fuel Loading table at the bottom of the form to obtain the fuel moment, and enter that value into the pink field on the same line.

5.  Note that the Landing Weight and landing CG values have been calculated.  The landing CG field will be green if the value is within limits, but will turn red if the CG is outside limits.

6.  Once you've adjusted the weight to your satisfaction, enter the weight values for the six individual seats and the baggage compartments into the Aircraft Fuel and Payload interface in FSX.  If you've made sure that the CG fields are green and no weights are exceeded, your Mustang will be balanced correctly for flight.

NOTE:

I've included a JPG with the actual CG limits.  The CG color indicators in the calculator are set to the maximum and minimum values for a Mustang at maximum ramp weight.  If you get a result that is outside the lower limits (CG too far forward), consult the CG limits graph in the JPG file to determine whether or not you are actually out of the limits.

Enjoy!

Download file here:

http://flight1.100megabyte.com/communitylibrary/mustang_weight_balance_calc.zip - http://flight1.100megabyte.com/communitylibrary/mustang_weight_balance_calc.zip