Message-Id: <v03130300b302e8fc0235@[198.108.16.225]>
In-Reply-To: <19990302051702.AAA20711@truman.olsusa.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 09:48:55 -0500
To: <lancair.list@olsusa.com>
From: "Lorn H. Olsen" <lorn@mich.com>
Subject: 320 Gross Weight
Cc: grudolph@jps.net
Mime-Version: 1.0

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>Date: Mon, 01 Mar 1999 12:50:00 -0500
>Subject: Lancair Gross Weight
>
>Posted for "Gary and Pauline Rudolph" <grudolph@jps.net>:
>
>I recently bought a flying Lancair 320 only to discover that it's difficult
>to put 2 people & full fuel in the aircraft using a gross weight of 1685
>lbs.  Does anyone out there know whether or not you can increase the gross
>weight to 1800 lbs.?
>
>Gary Rudolph
>grudolph@jps.net

I bought my Lancair 320 with 250 hours total flying time on the airplane. I
have since put on about 70 hours.

The empty weight is 1,157 lbs. I weigh 250 lbs my wife weighs 180. The
plane holds 43 gal or 43 x 6 eq 258 lbs of fuel. When fully loaded we are
at:
1,157 + 258 + 250 + 180 eq 1,845 lbs.

The builder of an experimental aircraft is allowed to set the gross weight.
Our builder set the gross weight at 1,860 lbs. We still have a whooping 15
lbs available for baggage.

When fully loaded, our plane is at the 66.9 inches aft of datum, the exact
rear cg. The problem to me isn't the plane. I simply need to loose 50 lbs.

By the way the plane still climbs at over 1,200 fpm when fully loaded.

The real problem with overloading the Lancair is the landing. The gear
isn't as strong as a production aircraft. Make sure that you grease it on.
Another hint is to not always fill up the fuel tanks. We are not always
going 1,000 miles. In the Lancair, 100 lbs of fuel will go over 300 miles
safely. This would save 158 lbs. A friend taught me and I now fly many
trips without full fuel.

If there are any questions of problems, feel free to e-mail or call.

Sincerely,
Lorn H. Olsen, N31161
(248) 866-4804