Payload editor questions

[davidvoogd]

I am a bit confused about where the station locations in the FSP payload editor are located relative to. It says in the program that they are
distance from the center of gravity - however the center of gravity moves based on what is loaded on the plane, so it sort of loops if you do
it that way.

I fly all GA planes so individual station weights do make a large difference on aircraft handling and performance, so I just want to make
sure I can get it setup right.

In the aircraft.cfg files there is listed an empty center of gravity for the aircraft - should that be used as a datum / reference for where to
place the passenger and luggage stations?

Also, many aircraft come with passengers in the weight and balances preconfigured in the aircraft.cfg file - should we remove the
passengers and let FSP add them based on how many are on the flight?

If there are already 4 people loaded in my Cessna 310 aircraft.cfg file, would having 4 added with FSP not mean to the plane there are 8
in total? It is very easy to edit the aircraft.cfg stations to remove the passengers so that is not a big deal, I would just like to know how the
FSP passenger loading affects the aircraft.

Thank you!



Post Edited ( 07-19-05 17:06 )

[davidvoogd]

OK here is an example - this is the weight and balance from my Cessna 310 (hope dreamfleet doesn't mind me posting this lol)

[weight_and_balance]
max_gross_weight = 5700
empty_weight = 3620
reference_datum_position = 3.38, 0.0, 0.0 // 2.94 ? 3.38
empty_weight_CG_position =-2.94, 0.0, 0.0 //,0.2 //LE at -1.74 ft 20.88" MAC/4 at -2.94 ft 35.3"
CG_forward_limit = 0.025
CG_aft_limit = -0.026
//-38.0" to -43.1" at 5200 lb. -3.17 to -3.59 ft. -3.38 ft 8.85% of 4.8 ft
//-32.0" to -43.6" at 4300 lb or less. -2.67 to -3.63 ft. -3.15 ft 20.14% of MAC
//
// 33% MAC flight ? -0.384 ft, 4.6" CoL:-0.215 ft
//empty wt: 3620 lb
//oil: 40 lb
//max fuel: 1092 lb 182 gal
//no payload: 4758
//max payload: 942
//total taxi: 5700

empty_weight_pitch_MOI = 3184 //2400
empty_weight_roll_MOI = 4201//3000
empty_weight_yaw_MOI = 5286 //4300
empty_weight_coupled_MOI = 0
max_number_of_stations = 11

station_load.0 =170,-3.08,-1.00,1.0,Pilot
station_load.1 =170,-3.08, 1.00,1.0,Copilot
station_load.2 =135,-5.92,-1.00,1.0,Passenger 1
station_load.3 =135,-5.92, 1.00,1.0,Passenger 2
station_load.4 =50,-8.00,-1.00,1.0,Passenger 3
station_load.5 =50,-8.00,1.00,1.0,Passenger 4
station_load.6 =20,-5.25,-5.25,-0.5,Baggage left
station_load.7 =20,-5.25,5.25,-0.5,Baggage right
station_load.8 =50,-10.33, 0.00, 0.4, Baggage rear
station_load.9 =20,0.33,-5.95, 0.4"Eng. Oil 24 lb max.
station_load.10 =20,0.33,5.95, 0.4"Eng. Oil 24 lb max.




OK so the way I have done it is that the front seat is at -6 from the datum, and the empty C of G is -3 from the datum, so that means the
front seat is -3 (3 back) from the empty C of G, this is the number I have used for the payload editor. The back seats are -8 from datum
so -5 from the empty C of G, and baggage compartments on average are -5.

Now - is this the correct way of doing it?

Also you can see that in the aircraft.cfg file I have 2 pilots (albeit light ones in this case), 40 pounds of cargo in the back two seats, and 70
lbs of baggage already loaded. So should I remove all the passenger and baggage / cargo weight from the aircraft.cfg file so that I don't
get double the weight when FSP adds it in?

Or does FS Passengers remove these weights and add it's own for the flight?

Thanks again...

[jscharpf]

I'm curious about this also. I am considering purchasing some payware aircraft that use load editors and I'm wondering how
FSPassengers handles this.
I thought it was addressed in the forum somewhere a while back but I can't remember it.

Jeff

[davidvoogd]

[nem]

I'm curious about this also, and whatever the way this works is, it would be nice if it was explained in the payload editor doc.