Adjusting the Center of Gravity

Adding weight is usually the last thing you want to do to an airplane but sometimes it's needed to get the plane to balance properly. Getting my plane balanced properly demonstrated a noticeable improvement in performance.
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Aircraft: Spectrum Beaver RX 550
Engine: Rotax 582 (65hp)
Cruise speed: 60 mph
Fuel capacity: 18 gallons
Fuel burn: 5 gph
Empty weight: 540 lbs
Gross weight: 1000 lbs
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Akaso V50X
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[williamhilston]

You guys in North America are so lucky having so many local and regional airports.. every ten miles you have some sort of strip.. green with envy I am.. I'd love to be able to do what you do. Thanks for sharing your happy times.. I really enjoy watching. Thanks Matt

[guyshaddock]

I flew an RX550 and I remember how tail heavy (full power) and how nose heavy (idle power) she was. This is a great fix matt. Thanks for the video. It brings back memories. These were such fun flying machines!

[WABN]

I'm just imagining alternate footage.
Matt: Vicky's at the picket line.
Vicky: he's flying without me, son of a b(cuts out)
Matt: and we're back at the hanger.

Nice flight. Enjoy it as always.

[medicaremastersofconnecticut]

Matt, look at Warm and Safe electric clothing. I use it on my motorcycle and ride mostly all winter.

[richardharvey]

Very interesting flight, enjoyed it very much.

[brendanhill]

Wow she is flying really nice Matt. Seems to be flying much better. And her climb rate also seems to be much better as well

[parawookie]

Nice Matt. That must have been a lot of wheel weights! Heated clothing season coming.

[LetsGoAviate]

Nice one. You should go test to see how much lower your stall speed is with the weight on the tail. Been there, done that, and was pleasantly surprised!

[Ricob]

Did you test the stall? That's when you know for sure what's going on with W&B. Your engine sounded like it was running nicely. The sound was very smooth. :)

[tedheath]

You are so lucky not so many powerlines, New Zealand is criss crossed with them

[msnpassjan]

1:51 Guerilla Tape, made right here in my home town of Cincinnati, Ohio, would be a super easy way to really secure that weight. It's what Red Green wish he knew about.

[stephenlane]

Great video, flew one a bit in the 80’s on skis. Loved it. I fly the Fireboss tanker now…. same idea… stick and throttle! One question to the RX550 people …. I recently flew a Quad City Challenger and will probably never fly in one again due to the ridiculous amount of adverse yaw. A turn requires leading with the rudder pedal and then opposite stick to keep the aircraft flying properly around the turn…. is the Beaver the same???

[trainrecked]

When your flying low by the fields i keep thinking u might collide with deer..but not as loud as those things are..lol unless they are suicidal..Im just over the line a bit in mid northern michigan..we dont have a many fields..butblooks a lot like your area Matt .great videos..thanks!

[mikeepeck]

Hi Matt, I was thinking that since weather is going to be an issue here real soon that maybe you could do some hanger videos when you can't fly. I was thinking you could show exactly how a weight & balance is performed with scales and calculations, maybe what you do for your preflights, prop pitching, general maintenance, ect. I know you've talked about some of these things, but seeing it actually done would be better. Just some Idea's for content when you can't fly.

[ThomasGrillo]

GG, on the CG adjustment. Bye, Vickie, in the comments! ;)

[robertwhigham]

What plane is this? Are wing tanks stock?

[DIYPackraft]

Awesome! It looks like those football tanks could move back a couple of inches. That could help too :)

[trottpark]

Well done with the C of G, & Bye Vicky.

[ericbradley]

Greetings from Weyman Airpark! My "V" is on strike as well. I haven't landed at Woodstock in years but I often fly by in the RV4. There's quite a difference in the acceptable Empty Weight CG (for the builder) and the flight envelope (for the pilot). Adding 12 lbs to the tail of your ultralight is quite a significant engineering decision. Can the tail handle it? Does the Beaver have a trim control? Any performance changes are probably due to trimmed airspeed changes (set Angle of Attack). You also probably notice these with fuel load and passenger load, although both are pretty close to your CG.

[darrylb]

My concern would be how it reacts in a stall. Aft c of g can be dangerous if the tail has a tendency to drop , potentially causing a whip stall and very poor outcomes. I suppose you will be doing more testing before making it a permanent change. In my 550 if i pull power off and let go of the stick it starts to drop the nose and slowly pick up speed, level out and then repeat. I assume this is desirable
.Always enjoy the videos Matt