C152 Weight and Balance Issue

[avsteve1]

What would be the best way to fix a weight and balance issue on a C152? You can't move the passenger from the front to the back, or vice versa(which is what everyone is telling me) because there simply isn't a back seat. I have been told I can always say that I don't want to carry a passenger since I'm PIC, which I know about, but seems too easy of an answer in a flight test scenario. I'm currently setup with a scenario in which I need to carry three 25lbs. boxes, and a standard weight passenger. I've tried shifting stuff around, and also asked around to others and nobody can come up with anything. Thanks.

[photofly]

Put two of the boxes in the forward baggage compartment.

[LifeAt90Kts]

Some times they give you a scenario that doesn’t work, on purpose. To make sure that when presented with a situation that doesn’t work for your aircraft you know how to adapt. Is the passenger or the freight more important? Can you take some of the boxes? None of the boxes? Can you safely take less fuel to maximize your payload? If you can show the examiner that you’ve thought through the situation to make the best of it you’ll fare better on your test.

[CL-Skadoo!]

Best answer "what does the passenger look like?".

[455tt]

"Standard Weight Passenger"?

The TC AIM says you are not supposed to use standard weights for aircraft having a passenger seating capacity of less than 5 (TC AIM RAC 3.5.7).

So you must therefore use the actual, estimated or volunteered weight of the passenger. Maybe your passenger weighs much less than standard if you get them onto a weigh scale. Or maybe more!

Offhand I think the baggage compartment limit is 50 pounds but read your 152 manual carefully for the baggage compartment limitations.

DO NOT have the passenger hold one of the boxes on their lap!

In real life you sometimes have to make tough choices - if your scenario will not work and you must choose between the passenger and limiting the baggage, then this might be the only option. Bottom line is you must be fully in compliance with the flight manual and with the regs so you will be safe. Suggest anything unsafe or not supported by the regs and/or flight manual and you will be in trouble for sure. Work out the options following these principles.

Good luck!

[PilotDAR]

Some times they give you a scenario that doesn’t work

Sometimes life gives you a scenario which does not work! Just because someone writes it, or asks it, does not mean it will work. Perhaps the question you've been posed is not actually a W&B question, but rather a pilot decision making question! Decision making always comes first, then the math to verify or back up the decision.

If the load you propose to carry is anywhere near any limit, start at the beginning, and do the math. It could not be more simple than for a 152. When I think back about documentation errors I have encountered over the years of flying, nearly all, and certainly the most critical errors were W&B. Often these errors are induced because there has been an error in the basic W&B for the empty aircraft. If it was a weighing error, which is unlikely you can detect as a pilot. But, you should be able to find the results from the most recent weighing, and recalculate the empty weight and C of G position from that (it's not hard). The challenge becomes possible errors in W&B amendments which followed that.

A TC exam I wrote a ling time ago offered four possible answers to the multiple choice W&B question. Two were obviously not the correct answer. One was not a correct answer, but was close. The last seemed to make the most sense, though when you looked at the other side of that answer, doing it that way would be a violation of an air regulation. So violating an air reg can't be the right answer, the "most correct" answer was the imperfect one. Nope! The answer which the exam marked to was the violate the C of G limits air reg answer. I complaind to TC that the "correct" answer on an exam cannot contain a violation in it! TC agreed, and I was credited the mark! Think it through for yourself with a basic reality check first!