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Constant load factor, and a change in gross weight, What happens ?

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Aerodynamics

What effect does weight have on load factor ?

Eg. Constant 60 bank turn (2G's) increasing/decreasing gross weight, what would be expected ?

To be utility category for small light trainers (150,172,pa28) we need to be under a certain lb, but decreasing weight would also decrease Va speed, This seems conflicting..

 

I'm having a difficult time connecting these ideas in my head, any open discussion/information is appreciated!

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1 Answers



  1. KDS on Nov 20, 2017

    It’s kind of two different things.

    The load factor is just a function of angle of bank. Expressed in g’s, a bank of 60 degrees will always result in a 2 g load factor.

    Va is the speed at which the airplane will stall before reaching its maximum design stress factor when the controls are suddenly deflected. The heavier an airplane is, the sooner it will stall. Stated differently, you can bend a light airplane at a lower speed than you can bend a heavy airplane.

    You’re definitely right that it doesn’t seem intuitively obvious.

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